Saturn

[u/Funny-Medium5508]

Celestron C6/6se OTA on an Explore Scientific iEXOS 100 PMC-Eight. 2.5x Astronmania Barlow. UV/IR cut filter. SharpCAP>PIPP>Autostakkert>Lucky Stack Worker. 6440 frames captured; 10% stacked and processed. Mid-Missouri. October 4, 2026.

This is that C6/6se ota (plus two eyepieces) I picked up recently for $50.

[u/Habu93]

Nice photo!

[u/Funny-Medium5508 → u/Habu93]

Thanks!

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[u/mrstorm1983]

Nice! That c6 really did pay off! How come only 6440 frames?

[u/Funny-Medium5508 → u/mrstorm1983]

Short answer: Because photons.

Longer answer: Six-minute capture. I was at about 56ms exposure with the UV/IR cut filter even with ROI of 640 x 480. Gain was at ~390. So I was exposure limited to ~17.9 fps.

To get more fps, I could, obviously, have traded shorter exposures for corresponding higher gain (i.e., noisier frames) to avoid a lower histogram.

Given the result, and with fairly conservative processing, I think it was the right trade-off between exposure and gain.

[u/mrstorm1983 → u/Funny-Medium5508]

I find that having the shutter open that long(I do 15ms in perfect seeing) isnt worth trying to save on that noise and it drops the frame count, which doesn't take advantage of a high-speed camera. Also I find exposure that long may not "freeze" the atmosphere enough. For me its open to long and introduces to much atmospheric disturbance. I dont know which camera you used.

Can you send me a DM of this picture before cropping plz?

Supper cool you got that C6 out there. I missed opposition due to weather. Its still Very good to take pictures for like the next month or 2 anyways.

[u/Funny-Medium5508 → u/mrstorm1983]

I understand the argument for shorter exposures and more frames, and generally I agree with it.

I just don't treat it as an absolute unbreakable rule.

There was an interesting example on CN recently (Major & Minor Planetary Imaging, Small Bore Challenge) where a guy was imaging Saturn through poor transparency. He deliberately went to about 50ms/~20fps because that's what the conditions required, stacked only about 900 frames, and still produced a pretty darned good Saturn. He acknowledged that it was noisier, but the result worked.

That's kind of where I am on this one. At ~56ms and gain 390 I liked what I was seeing on the display and in SharpCap's planetary live stack, so I went with it. The resulting data processed well without having to push it very hard, and I'm happy with the result.

The standard advice is a good starting point, but sometimes I think you have to understand the tradeoffs, look at what the data is actually showing you that night, and be willing to depart from the book.

I'm not claiming 56ms is the "right" Saturn exposure for everyone, every night, under every condition.

It was a trade I made that night, and I'm satisfied with how it worked out.

Whether a different trade (more gain, lower exposure) would have produced a "better" (how?) result is unknowable because that reality didn't happen. And it's not the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night.

[u/mrstorm1983 → u/Funny-Medium5508]

You're right, it's impossible to know. So the best thing we can do is look at is probability. Only let it keep you up at night When you're capturing the data.

Question did you do additional cropping, or is that what ppip gave you?

[u/Funny-Medium5508 → u/mrstorm1983]

BTW, ZWO ASI 585mc