Imaging various components of our solar system in high resolution requires a completely different skill set than deep sky imaging. Instead of exposures totaling dozens of hours over weeks/months, the exposures for planetary imaging are typically not more than a couple of minutes in duration (short videos containing thousands of frames, obtained via webcams). The greatest single factor determining final image quality is atmospheric steadiness (also known as “seeing”). Unfortunately, my local seeing tends to be average at best, so many of these images (especially of the planets) fall short of the theoretical resolution one could obtain with the equipment utilized. As Al Sleet (George Carlin’s Hippy Dippy Weatherman) was fond of saying, “If you don’t like the weather…MOVE!” I might just move to a more favorable location when Jupiter and Saturn return to a higher elevation in the northern hemisphere several years down the line.
These Saturn images were taken during 2015 & 2016 with a 12.5″ OGC RC and Celestron NexImage 5. Processing was with AutoStakkert, Registax, and Photoshop.