Here is a picture of Saturn I took during its opposition this weekend! I'm not exactly a pro at snapping planetary shots, and honestly, I spend way too much time just messing around with different settings to see what comes out of it. I haven't really nailed down a solid process yet.
I gotta admit, I'm more into enjoying the planets through my own eyes than fussing over photos, but I set myself a challenge to get at least one shot of each inner planet during its opposition. So, here's my first attempt.
Things I've learned:
- Stop listening to people on the forums and do your own thing. What works for them will probably not work for you.
- Don't bother trying to get shots before the planet's are near or at the meridian. You'll just frustrate yourself.
- When the seeing's lousy, just call it a night. No point in banging your head against the wall.
- I'm all about that light touch when it comes to tweaking the pics. I can't stand those crazy oversharpened shots some people go for.
Of course, if your dream is to go full astrophotographer mode, then forget everything I rambled about!
My setup for the night:
Celestron Evolution 8
ZWO ASI294MC
TeleVue 2x Powermate
SharpCap
Exp: 7.32ms
Gain: 435
Histogram: 50%
123.5 FPS
74309 Frames (around 10 minutes)
I snapped this photo around midnight on August 28th, 2023, just as Saturn was getting close to the meridian. The night's seeing was honestly terrible. Actually, it's been a whole month of crummy conditions thanks to this relentless heat and humidity. So, considering the circumstances, I think this pic's a bit over-edited, but honestly, I'm pretty stoked about how it turned out overall.
