Saturn grows bigger, brighter (animation) (Darren (DMach))

Saturn grows bigger, brighter (animation)

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Better late than never I guess!

A very hectic period at work has meant I have a mountain of data to work through and very little time to work on it. On top of that, whilst I had this concept in mind at the time of acquiring the data, I massively underestimated the amount of time and effort it would require to match the processing as closely as possible. Still not perfect, but it's time to put this one to bed and move on to the other data I have waiting in the wings!

After matching the underlying processing as best I could, I attempted to normalise the images using a large colour sample at Saturn's equator. The bright, sandy-yellow band here is therefore of equivalent brightness and (almost) identical RGB mix across the images, hopefully meaning the change in brightness of the rings is accurately represented.

Cloudy nights dictated the time spacing between the images and unfortunately, due to a business trip, I had no opportunity to image at opposition itself. But thankfully I had a clear night at home 3 days prior to opposition and this was close enough to be able to see the opposition surge/Seeliger Effect for Saturn's beautiful rings.

In addition to the Seeliger Effect, there are storms and other detail visible on Saturn itself in some of the individual images (including in the polar region).

The revisions presented here are as follows:

Rev A: Animation

Rev B: Animation (annotated)

Rev C: Montage of all images

Rev D: Individual image: 2019-04-21

Rev E: Individual image: 2019-05-04

Rev F: Individual image: 2019-05-20

Rev G: Individual image: 2019-07-07

Thanks for looking and (if you made it this far) reading!

B

Description: Animation with annotation

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C

Description: Montage of all images

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D

Description: Individual image: 2019-04-21

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E

Description: Individual image: 2019-05-04

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F

Description: Individual image: 2019-05-20

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G

Description: Individual image: 2019-07-07

Uploaded: ...

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
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Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

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Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
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