Capturing Saturn: A Beginner's Journey with a Smartphone

Saturn, the ringed jewel of our solar system, is a perennial favorite for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers. In this post, we'll dive into the process of capturing and processing a beautiful image of Saturn using accessible equipment – specifically, a Celestron NexStar 6se telescope and a Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphone.

The Gear Used

• Telescope: Celestron NexStar 6se
• Camera: Samsung Galaxy S24
• Smartphone Adapter: NexYZ Smartphone Adapter
• Eyepiece: Celestron 25mm Plössl

This setup demonstrates that you don't need a dedicated astronomy camera to start capturing the wonders of the night sky. A smartphone, combined with the right adapter and a good telescope, can yield impressive results.

Acquisition Details

The first step in capturing any celestial object is acquiring the raw data. For this image of Saturn, the process involved:

1. Smartphone Alignment: The Samsung Galaxy S24 was securely attached to the telescope's eyepiece using the NexYZ Smartphone Adapter. This ensures stable alignment, which is crucial for capturing sharp images.
2. Video Capture: The phone's camera was set to Pro Video mode, allowing for manual control over settings like ISO and shutter speed. While the specific settings used are not recalled, the ability to fine-tune these parameters is essential for optimizing image quality.
3. Recording: A video of Saturn was recorded for approximately 1 minute and 49 seconds. This video format is preferred over still images for planetary imaging as it allows for capturing multiple frames that can be stacked later to improve detail and reduce noise.

Processing the Image

Once the video footage was captured, the real magic happened in post-processing. The goal is to extract the best possible detail from the raw frames.

1. PIPP (Planetary Imaging Pre-processing): The raw video file was fed into PIPP. This powerful software was used to:

   • Crop the video, focusing on the planet.
   • Remove any frames that were blurry or contained artifacts (bad frames).
   • Convert the video into an AVI file, a common format for astrophotography processing. This process resulted in approximately 1200 usable frames.

2. Autostakkert!: The processed AVI file was then processed with Autostakkert!. This program analyzes the individual frames and stacks the sharpest ones, effectively combining the data to reduce noise and enhance detail. For this image, the best 50% of the frames were stacked.

3. RegiStax 6: The stacked image from Autostakkert! was further refined using RegiStax 6. The key feature used here was the wavelet processing. Wavelets help to sharpen specific features in the image, bringing out finer details like Saturn's rings and atmospheric bands. Most of the visible detail was found to be in the second wavelet setting.

4. Orientation: Finally, the image was rotated so that the North Pole of Saturn is facing upwards, providing a standard orientation for viewing.

Conclusion

This image of Saturn is a testament to the capabilities of modern smartphones and accessible telescope technology. By carefully acquiring video data and employing post-processing techniques like PIPP, Autostakkert!, and RegiStax 6, even beginners can achieve impressive results and start their journey into the captivating world of astrophotography.