Observation Data
Location: Mansfield, GA (33.4689° N, 83.7353° W)
Date and Time: 2023-11-03, 20:11 – 20:22 EDT
Sky conditions: Seeing – Fair, Transparency – Mag 4
Instrument: Celestron C8 SCT @f/10, Aperture 203.3mm, Focal length: 2023
Mount: Advanced VX
Eyepiece: Meade MA25mm
Reticle Device: N/A
Imaging Equipment: ZWO ASI 120MM-S, ZWO UV/IR cut filter
Image type and sensor: CMOS, AR0130CS 1/3″ sensor
Image capture details: Composite of two stacked images
Image 1: 120s AVI captures, Start capture: 20:11:24 EDT, End capture: 20:13:24 EDT, Exposure: 10ms, Gain: 45, best 20% stacked of 3273 frames
Image 2: 120s AVI captures, Start capture: 20:20:04 EDT, End capture: 20:22:20 EDT, Exposure: 100ms, Gain: 50, best 20% stacked of 1202 frames
Software: ASICap, ASIVideoStack, Photoshop
Project Objectives
Of all Saturn’s satellites, only six can be seen in telescopes with moderate-sized apertures. How many can you spot? What satellites did you see?
Impressions
This was a quick observation session because I was participating in an outreach that night. Firstly, I observed Saturn through the eyepiece and it was beautiful. I’m always amazed at the details that can be seen with my eyes, and when the atmosphere stills for a brief second, the view is breathtaking. After that, I swapped out my eyepiece for my imaging gear and captured two 120s AVIs. In the first AVI, I saw all six of the noted moons because I overexposed the image.
In the second AVI, I set a lower exposure to properly view the planet. After stacking and processing the AVIs, I combined the two exposures to show Saturn and its moons. The composite image of Saturn and its moons is shown below. In order from left to right, the moons are Iapetus, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, and Titan.
