Today’s NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a detailed Saturn-system composite by astrophotographer Tom Williams. The clarity comes partly from exceptionally steady atmospheric conditions and partly from a technique called lucky imaging: shoot a great many very short frames, select the sharpest and combine them.
That is an accessible idea even if you never photograph a planet. Rather than expecting one exposure to defeat turbulence or motion, capture enough data to choose the best moments. In astrophotography, the approach reveals details in rings and moons that a single long exposure might blur.
Do this: open NASA’s full-resolution image, find Titan and Enceladus, and look at the explanation of atmospheric 'seeing.' Saturn was at opposition on October 4, so it is a particularly good observing season.
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