The sky was hazy today.  Transparency was poor but seeing was ok.

These images show the SEB disturbance.  One thing weird about this feature is that it is not apparent in the IR pass image.  Dione can be seen below Saturn.

It had been 2 months since my last image of Saturn.  Conditions last night was very bad but I had to take an image because it is only a day before opposition.  I had to image through clouds and transparency was very poor.

The rings of Saturn are now showing the Seeliger effect (Opposition Effect) and are very bright now.   In the southern hemisphere, something is disrupting the SEB.  Maybe a disturbance   Note the dark red spot on the right side just below the NTB.

Transparency was very poor today because I had to image Saturn through clouds.

Note the dark spot at 32N.  The southern hemisphere looks very active as it gets exposed to more sunlight.  There is a large dark spot at 44S close to the left edge.

Conditions were perfect today with Saturn high in the sky.

I finally imaged something that I never thought would image!  Enceladus and it's shadow can be seen in transit.  I never thought that this was possible because Enceladus is such a small moon.  Now we know it is possible to image such an event.

There is a dark spot at 44N exactly at the CM.  There is a bright spot on the EZs just below the ring to the left of the CM.  Tethys can be seen on the left above the ring.

Seeing was good today but transparency was very variable and poor at times because of clouds. 

Tethys can be seen just below the rings on the right.  There is a dark spot on 32N after the CM.  While on the same latitude, there is a white spot rising on the left!  On the opposite hemisphere at 32S, this band is very active with a string of white spots lining up.

Seeing was very good today.  But there were thin clouds and  a huge thunderstorm headed my way.  I wouldn't image methane band because the thunderstorm was getting close to me.  I will be traveling today so I won't be able to image till next week.

The southern hemisphere of Saturn is the most active part of the planet now as it gets more solar heat.  There is a low contrast spot at the CM above the NEB.  Tethys can be seen on the left.   This is my second run with the QHY5III678M camera.

I finally received the replacement QHY5III678M.  My previous camera had a UV-IR cut on it's chip!  I am happy to say that the previous camera was a fluke.  The new camera I received is very sensitive to IR!  I was even able to capture methane band! Seeing was good today but transparency was variable because of clouds!

All the usual bands of Saturn can be see.  In high contrast, some low contrast details can be seen.  No major features in methane band.

My thoughts about the QHY5III678M. This camera is the best of both worlds.  Sony's Starvis 2 is truly revolutionary.  The IMX678M is the FIRST monochrome Starvis 2 camera! You have a camera that is even lower noise than the SC2210 (QHY5III200M) and the IR sensitivity of the IMX462!  You can use this camera without a barlow or use 2X2 bin like what I am doing now!  I can now say that this is the QHY5III678M is the best camera for planetary imaging.

It was hazy this morning.   I would have gone back to bed, but there was a Dione transit.  Seeing was great but transparency was very poor.  This is the first time I have capture a distinct moon transit on Saturn other than Titan and Iapetus. 

Dione can be seen on the bottom left.  Note the two bright spot on -31S.  There is also a bright spot on the -77S  On the EZ, there is an interesting feature that is creating the white band on the EZ.

Conditions were perfect today.   This is probably my best image so far this season.

Many fine features are resolved in this image.  Many of these feature will pop out with some contrast enhancement.  There is a bright spot on the EZn just before the CM.  There is a dark spot at -41S just past the CM. Rhea can be seen below the Saturn.

Conditions weren't great today.  Humidity was high and it was very windy.  My system was shaking hard because the dewshield.  There are also some clouds that made transparency variable.

Saturn is quiet in this region.  No significant storms are resolved.

Conditions were perfect this morning.  The QHY5III678M camera continues to amaze me.  It is very low noise.  Before imaging Saturn was a pain because I need around 1 hour worth of data to get images like this.  Now it takes less than half and hour even less than 20 minutes to capture amazing images!  I have spoken to Mike Wong who also has this camera and he told me that he had not issue with the IR sensitivity of his camera.  I guess I just had bad luck with my camera.

A lot of details are resolved in Saturn.  But no major storms at this time. 

There was a huge thunderstorm headed my way.  But the area around Saturn was clear.  Seeing was very good. Because of the low noise of the QHY5III678M, it was possible to capture a decent image.

The southern hemisphere is getting active as it is heated up by the sun.  The northern hemisphere looks quiet in this region.  Tethys can be seen on the left side above the rings.

When I received the QHY5III678M camera, I wasn't really excited because the pixel size was very small! Anthony Wesley contacted me last weekend and told me that he was very impressed with the specs of this camera. He told me to try to capture using 2X2 binning.  Here is the result.  Seeing was excellent this morning despite Saturn being only 40deg above the horizon.

The details on Saturn is incredible considering it took only half my usual capture time.  Note the low contrast spots visible!  There is one in +38N past the CM and another in -30S before the CM.

It is just unfortunate that my camera was not sensitive to IR and UV.  Probably a defect on my sensor.

I was having second thoughts about imaging today.  Seeing was very good but transparency was very poor!  I had to image though clouds.  This where the QHY5III200M camera shines.  It is so low noise that even with low transparency, it is still possible to get a decent image.  But I had to image until a few minutes before sunrise!

Saturn looks quiet in this image.  There isn't any major activity that can be seen.

Condition was excellent this morning.  Saturn was around 30deg but I had very good laminar flow which really helped seeing.

The Cassini division can still be seen around Saturn.  Many features can be seen on Saturn.  More of the southern hemisphere can no be seen.

Conditions were still unstable today.  I was finally able to capture my first RGB image.  The RGB image was taken up to a few minutes before sunrise.

Not much details are visible except for the NEB.  The Cassini division can still be seen even in front Saturn.