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:

1. Stop listening to people on the forums and do your own thing. What works for them will probably not work for you.


2. Don't bother trying to get shots before the planet's are near or at the meridian. You'll just frustrate yourself.


3. When the seeing's lousy, just call it a night. No point in banging your head against the wall.


4. 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.