2007 and the rings are closing quickly. Mediocre seeing. Composite of 339 (out of 448) 333ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: 0.0
Apparent size: 20.0 & 45 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
January 20, 2007 12:49am PST
Good seeing. Composite of 298 (out of 500) 300ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: -0.5
Apparent size: 20.0 & 45 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
February 7, 2006 11:59pm PST
About a month and a half after opposition. The shadow of the planet on the rings has moved from the right side to the left side since Dec. 4. Very good seeing. Composite of 188 (out of 552) 500ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: -0.5
Apparent size: 20.0 & 45 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
February 28, 2005 10:29pm PST
Saturn (overexposed) and five of its moons: Titan, Rhea, Enceladus, Tethys, and Dione. Good seeing. Composite of 63 2-second exposures.
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/14
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
February 12, 2005 10:50pm PST
Almost a year after the picture below. The tilt of the rings is noticably reduced. Good seeing. Composite of 174 350ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: -0.4
Apparent size: 20.0 & 45.1 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
December 4, 2004 3:04am PST
Five days before opposition. You can see there is no shadow of the planet visible on the rings. Perfectly steady seeing. Composite of 700ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: -0.9
Apparent size: 20.6 & 46.6 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor + IR block filter
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail
December 27, 2003 3:05am PST
Very steady seeing. Composite of 444ms exposures.
Apparent brightness: -0.6
Apparent size: 19.9 & 45 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail, Saturation
November 18, 2003 2:33am PST
Saturn is overhead now in the early morning.
Apparent brightness: -0.4
Apparent size: 18.9 & 43 arcsec (ball & rings)
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC at f/35
Camera: MI-1300 CMOS sensor
Image Processing: Composite in Registax, Enhance detail, Saturation
October 19, 2003 3:44am PDT
The best I ever did with the Ricoh camera and afocal photography. Composite of six exposures.
Telescope: Meade ETX-105 EC
Camera: Ricoh RDC-5000 and 8mm eyepiece
Image Processing: Composite/6, Color balance, Contrast enhance, Despeckle, Unsharp mask
March 1, 2003