Saturn with ASI533MC Pro, 12 Oct 2024

A very clear night, still and very good (6/7) seeing. Since there was nothing really happening on Saturn I took the opportunity to compare my ASI533MC Pro (which I use for DSO imaging) with my ASI224MC on Saturn. I used exactly the same setup, just unscrewed the 224 and replaced it with the 533. Since the pixel size is the same for the two camera, they should pretty much work the same. The main difference is in the FOV for the 533, it's huge compared to the 224 .

The 533 uses different Bayer inks than the 224 (it should have better colour discrimination) and since it's designed for DSO imaging, it doesn't have a "high speed" option, so all the captures are in 12/16 bit mode. This affects the data transfer rate, and for Saturn I wasn't able to get higher than 90 fps even with a reduced ROI (I normally capture Saturn at 100 fps with my 224, so there's no real change there). I did need to modify the Wred and Wblue values in FC and Registax for the 533 compared to the 224, but that's a trivial exercise.

Here's the image, proving that the 533 Pro is a good "jack of all trades" camera for both Planetary and DSO AP. Maybe there's a hint of a spoke on the LHS of the A ring in both images?

2024 10 12 1029 9 L Sat AS F10000 L6 ap62 Sat925ML LowDN r115g095b1 Ps3 moons.png