Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Solar System Image Gallery - Saturn

Jupiter may be the king of our solar system but Saturn and its majestic ring system and camel surface coloration is certainly the queen of the same system. Although Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system, it has the distinction of also being the least dense (so much so it would float on water). It's atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's in that it is composed primarily of hydrogen gas in the upper atmosphere with liquid hydrogen surrounding a rocky core at lower altitudes. Saturn is perhaps the most unique of the solar system bodies thanks to the majestic set of rings that surround it and which is clearly visible from earth. Composed of icy particles, the ring system is really composed of three rings: the bright A and B rings which are separated by the Cassini Division (visible in most scopes) and the third semitransparent ring C (Crepe Ring).

As of mid-2005, Saturn was second only to Jupiter in the number of moons which orbit the planet, namely 49 (see here). Three of the most prominent and largest of these moons are Mimas, Enceladus and Titan. The former is most recognized for Crater Herschel, an impact remnant which covers about 1/3rd the diameter of Mimas and measures 140 km cross and 10 km deep. Enceladus is the most reflective of any of the moons in the solar system and is believed to be due to the icy particles which have engulfed this body as a result of its proximity to Saturn's ring system. Titan is the largest of Saturn's moons and the second largest of any of the moons in the solar system. It is the only know moon with an atmosphere and is composed primarily of nitrogen (similar to earth). Only four satellite missions have reached Saturn to date, namely Pioneer 11 (1973), Voyager 1 and 2 (1977) and Cassini-Huygens (1997) (additional details here).


Image Details
Saturn 2004
Imaging Details
Body:
Saturn

Mean Distance (A.U.):
9.539

Equatorial Diam (km):
120,000

Mass:
95.16 x Earth

Volume:
752 x Earth

Orbital Period:
29.457 yr

Number of Moons:
49

Orbital Eccentricity:
0.056

Orbital Inclination:
2.5°

Albedo:
0.47
Date:
Nov 07, 2004
02:53 - 03:04 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
Celestron 14"/f11 SCT
Losmandy G-11 GEM
TeleVue 2x Big Barlow
Philips ToUCam PCVC 740k


Video Imaging:
15 AVI (4654 frames)
Frame Rate : 10 fps
Exposure : 1/25 sec
Brightness : 50%
Contrast : 0%
Gamma : 70%
Saturation : 60%
Gain : 100%
Mode : RGB

Software:
K3CCDTools V1.0.6.460
AVI Joiner V1.02
Registax V2.1.0.0
Photoshop V6


Processing:
Selective Sampling (33/4654)
Registration & Alignment
Average Combine
Brightness/Contrast
Unsharp Masking
Gaussian Blur
Histogram Adjustment
JPG Compression


Copyright © 2001-2007, Anthony Ayiomamitis. All rights reserved.