Saturn and the Polar Hexagon – C14
Saturn and the Polar Hexagon – C14
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Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses : Celestron C14
Imaging Cameras : ZWO ASI290MM
Filters : Baader LRGB
Accessories : AstroPhysics Advanced Barlow
Software : Torsten Edelmann FireCapture · Gimp · AS3 · WinJUPOS
Acquisition details
Date : Jan. 28, 2022
Resolution : 1565×1066
File size : 162.3 KB
Data source : Backyard
Description
The polar hexagon of Saturn is unique and truly intriguing phenomenon.
First observed in 1981 by Voyager , it is located at about 78 degree N. The southern pole does not have a hexagon.
The overall diameter is some 18,000 miles (29,000km) and each side of the hexagon is 9,000 miles (14,000km), that is larger than the Earth.
This image was captured from our backyard on a night with excellent seeing. The planet was only about 40 degrees in altitude and the ADC was tuned to counteract the effect of atmospheric dispersion as much as possible.
The C14 was collimated as best a possible and the mono ASI290mm was used with RGB filters with 90sec per filter exposures.
Data was stacked and derotated with Winjupos.
Raw data looked like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpOgIKu1OVM
