Saturday, October 6, 2007

Saturn II The Sequel


The above image of Saturn was taken a couple of mornings ago, Scope performed flawlessly, held the 450X Saturn dead center of the camera ccd chip while I was able to stack 60 images at .033 secs each. I tried to squeeze as much detail as possible out of Saturn, but being low on the horizon the atmosphere sucked the life and detail out of it. You can just make out a lower striped cloud band just below the rings, the upper band is partially obscured by the angled rings, I'll be posting more pics of the beautiful planet hopefully with more detail as I get more experienced and Saturn gets higher in the sky. In a couple of years we are going to loose those rings. Saturn is going to be at a viewing angle from Earth where the rings will be straight on, and since the average depth of the rings are only 1 km we won't be seeing much of them, so if your thinking of someday getting a telescope get one before the rings go bye bye. This of course is not permanent, they will come back over time, around 2 years after they disappear they slowly come back into view.



Space Shuttle Discovery is traveling to launch pad 39a at Cape Canaveral in preparation for mission STS (space transportation system) 120. The crew's main mission is to deliver and install the Italian built for the US, Harmony module which will serve as a connecting point between the US destiny lab, the European Space Agency's Columbus module and the Japanese Kibo module. Discovery launch date is set for October 23, don't forget to watch NASA TV as they have some crazy angled camera shots which are always cool to watch.

The rainbow in the above pic is caused by a water truck which sprays water ahead of the crawler-keeps the crawlerway moist and the dust down. The crawler, shuttle combined weight is 175 million pounds, moving at a rate of 1 mph.


Mars Rover Opportunity has gone into Victoria Crater at Duck Bay point. The image above shows opportunity in front of a band of what scientists think and I quote "Is the ancient surface of Mars prior to the impact that created Victoria". By sampling it at several different levels in the crater they are hoping to figure out the processes that led to its formation and its very distinctive appearance.



The pic above is one of my Total Lunar Eclipse photos blown up to 24"x36" and hung in my office, I'm happy it turned out so well, cool.

21 comments:

p said...

thought of you when i saw this
have you seen it already?

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Paula, no I haven't heard of the space money before, thanks for the link!

Rick said...

Space money? I think we should have interplanetary travelers first before we make money to use.

Great pic of Saturn! A little fuzzy, but everything is on the horizon. Keep them pics coming!

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Bob,

Fantastic write up and photos!!! I want my telescope!!! My daughter and her husband have been going on astronomy camping weekends and are enjoying the night sky with their new telescope and interest. :D

Hugs, JJ

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Rick, getting there with Saturn, the space money is a little like the cart before the horse, lol.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks JJ, That's cool they have their own scope, better get one too, get a look at Saturn before the rings go.

kml said...

I didn't know that about Saturn. How many years after that will we be able to see the rings again?

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Kathy, not to worry they will start to come back in a couple of years, I added that to my blog, my wife was concerned too, lol

myonlyphoto said...

Bob, thanks for sharing, especially about the Saturn rings not being visible for a while - and who thought that there is so much out there, lol. Oh well, I don't think I can get anything bigger than my 100-400mm lens anytime sooner anyway. Trying to understand how your telescope takes photos, 'was able to stack 60 images at .033 secs each', - do you have to do something special after you get the images, or these are images you sort to find the best one? BTW still watching Race to Mars, 7th, 8th, etc. time, lol. Anna :)

franx said...

The color of Saturn is red. What happen in that planet. You have a great picture of Planet..It's amazing site. Noone like you Bob

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anna, The computer takes what it thinks are the best shots and stacks them on top of each other all by itself, you have the option of doing it later with all the shots yourself. Mars rising is on tonight, stopped watching race to Mars after the 8th. time,lol

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Franx Budi, Saturn was low on the horizon, so part of the coloring is the atmosphere, Saturn should have a yellow tint to it, hopfully when it gets higher in the sky I can get a shot of it.

MYM said...

Excellent post & pics as always, bob.

Anonymous said...

Wow Bob, indeed, write about it and post your photos too :) - for the once thaty cannot follow it on TV. :P

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks drowseymonkey!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Tatiana,I will!

myonlyphoto said...

Did I forget to mention what a nice photo in your room - really very nice. I take so much photography, and I have no single photo on display in my house. Thanks for the explanation about taking photo shots. BTW $5 per pumpkin, for you $2.50, lol. Anna :)

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anna, I'm surprised you don't have any of your photos on display, they're so good, my basement looks like a gallery, I have framed explainations of each image like it was in a gallery, since I had them in a gallery at the mall. I'll take 25 pumpkins, can I keep them on hold till , oh let me see, till the next time I'm in town? lol.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be down... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please reply to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could post it.

Thanks,
Harry

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the link, but unfortunately it seems to be down... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could post it.

Thanks,
Alex

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could post it.

Thanks,
Peter