Saturn in october 1998
2 raw pictures taken respectively on 10/16/1998 and 10/17/1998 at the focus of a MEADE LX10 telescope 8" equipped with a Barlow lens 2x (F/D = 20). The camera model is a black and white Quickcam. A clear central stripe is visible around Saturn sphere. On the right picture, Saturn shadow is stretching over the left rear side of the rings. At that time Saturn was at a distance of 1241 millions kilometers from earth.
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Saturn in october 1999
Pictures taken on 10/16/1999 at the focus of a MEADE LX10 telescope 8" equipped with a Barlow lens 2x (F/D = 20). The camera model is a Color Quickcam VC. At that time Saturn was at a distance of 1238 millions kilometers from earth.
The left picture is a raw picture. The right image is a combination of 15 raw pictures, computed with IRIS software through a wavelet filter. Right picture reveals partially the complex ring structure whose main feature is the Cassini division.
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Saturn in novembre 2000
Pictures below were taken on 11/04/2000 at the focus of MEADE LX10 telescope with Barlow 2x lens (F/D = 20) using a Philips Vesta Pro camera. The left picture is a raw picture. The right picture results from a combination of 90 pictures, computed through a wavelet filter with IRIS software.
Notice the increasing aperture of the rings, compared to this of the previous picture. The lower limb of the planet is now tangent to the outer edge of the rings.
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Saturn in december 2001
Pictures below were taken on 12/02//2001 (one year after the previous pictures) at the focus of MEADE LX10 telescope with Barlow 3x lens (F/D = 30) using a Philips Vesta Pro camera. The left picture is a raw picture. The right picture results from a combination of 130 pictures, computed through a wavelet filter with IRIS software.
Notice the increasing aperture of the rings compared to this of the previous picture. The outer ring is now visible beneath the planet.
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Saturn in january 2003
Pictures below were taken on 01/24//2003 (one year after the previous pictures) at the focus of MEADE LX10 telescope with lengthened Barlow 3x lens (F/D = 36) using a Philips Vesta Pro camera. The left picture is a raw picture. The right picture results from a combination of 1200 pictures, processed through a wavelet filter with IRIS software. Turbulence was very low when these pictures were captured.
The ring aperture has now reached its maximum. The variation is very small compared to the end of 2001 and the lower limb of the planet is now tangent to the Cassini division.
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Clear spots on Saturn's surface make the rotation visible. This movie made of four pictures taken in a period of about 25 minutes. These pictures were captured at the same time as previous ones.
Saturn rotation (640x480)
.GIF format
Saturn in december 2008
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This image was captured on
12/24/2008, at
the focus of MEADE LX200 8" telescope with lengthened Barlow 3x lens (F/D = 30) using
a B/W modified Philips Vesta Pro camera.
It results from a combination of 330 pictures, processed with Registax 4 and
enhanced through a wavelet filter with IRIS software. Turbulence was strong.
At hat time, inclination of rings was less than 1° (-0.8°). This movie represents the variation of the inclination at the beginning of 2009.
Evolution of Saturn rings
between december 2008 and april 2009 (640x480) .GIF format 147K
Evolution of Saturn rings aperture between 2003 and 2009
This movie is composed of 7 frames captured in january 2003, february 2004, february 2005, february 2006, march 2007, april 2008 and march 2009.
Evolution of Saturn rings
between 2003 and 2009 (640x480)
.GIF format 879K
This 3D view is an anaglyph
composed of two pictures of Saturn captured one year apart.
Try with your 3D glasses and enjoy ....
