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PSA: Saturn is not the only planet with rings, so stop cropping Neptune out of your shots
Every single time I show someone my shot of Neptune from last August in my backyard in Boise, they ask why I bothered when it looks like a blue dot. But Neptune actually has five faint rings, and they showed up as tiny arcs in my 8 inch scope once I stacked 200 frames, which nobody believes until they see the raw files. Am I the only one who thinks the ice giants get ignored because people expect a Saturn level payoff?
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sandra_anderson219d ago
Gotta disagree with the framing here. The problem is not that people crop Neptune out, it is that most folks just do not have the gear or the patience to pull any detail out of it at all. Getting those ring arcs to show up in an 8 inch scope took 200 stacked frames, and that is a serious amount of work for a result that still looks like a smudge to anyone who is not into this. Saturn gives you the payoff right away, so of course people chase it. The ice giants do get ignored, but it is less about cropping and more about the fact that the reward is tiny and slow and most people are not gonna stick with it. Respect for putting in the hours on Neptune, but expecting the hobby to treat it like Saturn is a tough sell.
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