Saturn September 2024

 

               

    

            

                       

"127mm Meade Apo refractor, Televue x3 Barlow and QHY5111462c camera.  Early hours of the 12th Sept 2024 taken from Outon Broad Suffolk. Clear skies but turbulent so achieving focus was difficult at F23. Software used: SharpCap 4.1, PIPP, AS!3, Registax6, Affinity Photo2 and AstroSharp and Clean.

The whole Jodrell Plank team were out, in force in the early hours of the 12th of September, to capture our first video clips this year of the majestic planet Saturn. What was very noticeable was by how much Saturn's rings had closed since we last imaged the planet! The solar system is a very dynamic system. As an unexpected bonus we were able to image four of the planet's moons; Rhea, Tethys, Enceladus and Dione.

Before we closed down our operations for the night, we used the 127mm telescope to obtain spectra for the stars: Vega, Altair, Tarazed and Ashlain." - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

      

                    

The Ringed Planet at Opposition

 

Saturn and four moons imaged in the early hours 04-09-2023 with 127mm Meade Apo refractor, x3 Televue Barlow and a QHY5III462 colour planetary camera. Credit Pip Stakkert.

"After the jet stream departed from over Lowestoft, the night sky has been subject to mist and a blanket of wispy high level cloud. As Saturn is just about accessible, over the top of Mr Shrodinger's olive tree with the pier mounted 127mm Apo Meade refractor, we decided to have a go at imaging it with a  Televue x3 Barlow and the new QHY5III462 planetary camera. The image is a bit soft but Pipp managed to sharpen it a little and dig four moons out of the mist. Processed with PIPP, AS!3, Registax6, Affinity Photo2,.Astrosharp, Fitswork4 and Topaz Denoise AI software". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

An old and young friend

Saturn and 4 moons. A compilation of stacked video frames taken with the 127mm Meade Apo refractor, 3x Barlow and QHY5llcol. video colour camera. Credit: Pip Stakkert

 " It's nice to see our old friend, the ringed planet Saturn shining yellow just over our southern horizon here at the Jodrell Plank Observatory in Oulton Broad, Suffolk. For the last few years Saturn has remained low in the sky and presents a number of altitude related difficulties for planetary imagers. Our view of the planet's rings changes over time on a cyclical basis and from our visual perspective the rings appear to be closing. In a few years time the rings will be edge on as seen from Earth. Saturn has 82 moons varying in size from the largest Titan, which is bigger than the planet Mercury, to the smallest about the size of a tennis court. Titan cannot be seen on this image as its orbit is larger than the field of view.

NGC 7000 the North American Nebula in the Constellation Cygnus. Image taken from Ed Sargisson's Observatory in Norwich. Credit: Ed Sargisson.

Our young and good friend to the Jodrell Plank Observatory, Ed Sargisson, imaged the North American Nebula from his location in central Norwich. The extensive glowing hydrogen gas is well portrayed in this excellent photograph. The difficulty of capturing faint nebula from a light polluted city cannot be over emphasised. The 'Cygnus Wall', a popular target for narrow band imagers, can be seen as the horizontal band of brighter red luminosity in the bottom right of the image" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Saturn and its Moons

 

A compilation widefield images of the gas giant planet Saturn and five of its moons on the 8th of September 2012. Images taken with 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, x3 Barlow lens and a QHY5l-11 colour video camera. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" Imaging Saturn remains difficult as the planet is very low on our southern horizon in Lowestoft. The location of the moons: Titan, Dione and Rhea was easy to achieve but Tethys and Enceladus, being close and therefore lost in the glare from Saturn, required the position of the moons to be estimated using planetarium software. Saturn is probably one of the most beautiful astronomical objects to be viewed through the eyepiece of a telescope." - Karl Seguine Community Outreach Coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Summer Milky Way and Gas Giants with Moons

The Milky Way over the Jodrell Plank Observatory -the 600d Canon DSLR with EOS 18-55mm lens at f=18mm 'piggyback' on the Meade 127mm Refractor. A stack of 30x60 sec lights at ISO1600. Credit: Kurt Thrust

Jupiter showing the Great Red Spot and just visible the newly formed white spot below it. Two of the four Galilean Moons, Io and Ganymede, are also clearly visible. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and QHY5-11 colour planetary video camera. Three minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert

Saturn and three Moons, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and both the QHY5-11 colour and mono planetary cameras. Six minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" In contradiction of the usually accurate weather forecasts, the night of the 19th of August 2020 was clear and transparent. The absence of the Moon was also advantageous for astro-imaging.

Pip Stakkert and I made an early start using the planetary video cameras and the 127mm Meade Apo-refractor to image the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which remain low on the Jodrell Plank Observatory's southern horizon. Our thanks go to Anita Roberts, friend and sponsor of the Jodrell Plank Observatory, for cutting back the planting on the adjoining hedge.

The planet Mars remains too low during sensible working hours for us to use the Meade telescope to image it. We shall however try to capture the 'red planet' in September.

We completed our early morning imaging session by 'piggy backing' the Canon 600D dslr camera on the Meade telescope and captured the Summer Milky Way in all its glory as it streamed down over the Observatory buildings. The dark dust clouds in the Milky Way never fail to impress the Jodrell Plank team!". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

The Saturnian System

Saturn with 5 of its larger moons on the 25th May 2017 - Composite of two images taken with a DSLR and a high speed planetary video camera whch were later merged together using specialist software.

"The Cassini Spacecraft is somewhere in this image but far too small and dim to see through any telescope. The Cassini Spacecraft was launched in 1997 and has been exploring  the Saturnian System since 2004. It has been an immensely successful scientific project gaining unknown insights into its moons, rings and atmosphere.

 Cassini Top Ten Scientific Highlights

 Science Overview

Cassini in orbit around Saturn - Graphic credit : NASA-JPL

Cassini is travelling currently at a speed of 19,000 mph relative to Saturn and as it runs out of fuel for adjusting its orbit after 19 years in space, it has commenced a series of planned orbits that take it inside the rings and close over the cloud tops of Saturn itself.  Its orbit will decay and in September of this year, Cassini will disappear within the clouds to be crushed out of existence by Saturn's atmospheric pressure.  Every inch of the way, the Cassini Spacecraft's instruments will be recording new information and beaming it back to Earth.

For me Cassini's greatest discovery was the subterranean sea on the moon Enceladus." Credit Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory 

Enceladus Subsurface Ocean 

 'Enceladus is ripe for life. In one final pass through the icy moon’s liquid plumes, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft found molecular hydrogen, which indicates favourable conditions for life in Enceladus’s subsurface sea.' Credit: New Scientist

Saturn with its retinue of moons tiny amongst the starfield in the Constellation Sagittarius - Image taken with the 127mm. Meade Apo- Refractor from the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

 " The Cassini project is a NASA ESA joint scientific exploration of the Saturnian System. It is a wonderful example of cooperation between scientists and intellectuals in the United States of America and Europe. We do it not because its easy but because we choose to.  Curiosity, brains, cooperation, compassion and the pioneering can do spirit define our species. So lets keep doing great stuff together and turn our backs on ignorance, xenophobia, pseudo-science, bullshit and hatred." Credit: Kurt Thrust - current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.