Observing Saturn.

[snabald]

My older two sons and I took advantage of the clear skies tonight and braved near-freezing temperatures because of Saturn's proximity to the moon this evening.

I was surprised to see rings and a moon at only 40x, more surprised that at 111x the rings became very distinct, even through the wispy clouds that decided to roll in front of Saturn while we were observing making it hard to focus well.

This was my first time resolving a planet in my scope and I got goosebumps when the rings first came into focus, my sons were very excited as well!

I hoping that when I get a 2x Barlow next month, the view will be even better!!!

[redshifter]

Wait till Jupiter comes up in the evening sky. Another outstanding planet for telescopic observing.

[Kelfazin]

My older two sons and I took advantage of the clear skies tonight and braved near-freezing temperatures because of Saturn's proximity to the moon this evening.

I was surprised to see rings and a moon at only 40x, more surprised that at 111x the rings became very distinct, even through the wispy clouds that decided to roll in front of Saturn while we were observing making it hard to focus well.

This was my first time resolving a planet in my scope and I got goosebumps when the rings first came into focus, my sons were very excited as well!

I hoping that when I get a 2x Barlow next month, the view will be even better!!!

I'll never forget the first time I saw Saturn with my brand new (at the time) telescope. I was dumbfounded and just stared at it for an hour or so, looking back and forth from the eyepiece to naked-eye, amazed that the pinpoint of light I could see was actually a planet..with rings! And, like your experience, the detail and clarity of the rings was stunning.

To this day, if Saturn is up, it's my first stop with the scope. I've been lucky enough with the sky in the past that I've been able to view all the planets except Mercury at one time (Pluto was really hard to see, my scopes limiting magnitude is 14 and pluto was 13.8 at the time, very much an averted-eye object, but it was there :) ) and Saturn is still my favorite. Although Jupiter is a very close 2nd.

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

all the interesting posts above. I want to go buy a telescope today :D

[cjl]

I love looking at saturn and jupiter. Great objects. Uranus and Neptune are neat if you can find them too, although they aren't as spectacular. I also enjoy globular clusters. The double cluster is one of our first stops in a night of observing.

[Kaptain K]

The double cluster (in Perseus) is a pair of open clusters.

[Fr. Wayne]

The Orion Nebula with it's Trapezium is a great test of a deep space telescope. Can you see 4 or 6 stars within?

[snabald]

The Orion Nebula with it's Trapezium is a great test of a deep space telescope. Can you see 4 or 6 stars within?
It seems between the street lights and nearly full moon, I can't even see the Orion nebula!

[cjl]

The double cluster (in Perseus) is a pair of open clusters.
Yes - sorry if I implied it was globulars. I love both opens and globulars, and I prefer globulars, but the double is really neat too.

[Kaptain K]

Yes - sorry if I implied it was globulars. I love both opens and globulars, and I prefer globulars but the double is really neat too.
Agreed - on both points!

[snabald]

Tonight I collimated my mirrors then got out to look at Saturn again, I got a much better look at the rings and Titan this time. Due to what I guess was some ice in the air it all did have a weird halo around it but I could still see the rings very clearly. I must have stood there with my face in the eyepiece looking at it for a good 45 min, well it was more like: stare... adjust RA knob stare.... adjust RA knob... stare... you get the point.

I can't wait for Jupiter!!!

[cjl]

Yep - one thing I like most about Jupiter is seeing how many moons I can see at once (my record is 5). It almost looks like a mini solar system. If you can resolve the red spot, it's pretty neat too, although difficult. The bands are easy to see though.

[aurora]

You saw 5 moons around Jupiter? You must have a big scope!

[cjl]

10 inch. We weren't really sure if the 5th was a moon, but it appeared to be. It was extremely dim and we could just barely make it out. We definitely saw Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io. Not positive about the 5th though. (this was also at about 3200 meters asl, and FAR from light pollution).

[Dave Mitsky]

Only the four Galilean satellites are readily visible through amateur instruments. The next brightest satellite is 14.1 magnitude Almathea (which was discovered by E. E. Barnard using the 36" Lick refractor) followed by 15th magnitude Himalia, which is a full magnitude dimmer than Pluto.

Dave Mitsky

[Champion_Munch]

I still haven't been able to spot the red spot on Jupiter with my 8" dob. I can see the bands quite clearly (and the 4 moons) though. Definately a sight worth waiting for. :D

with regards

[Dave Mitsky]

You should try to observe the GRS near the time it transits Jupiter's central meridian. It hasn't been very red for quite a few years now and is usually described as being salmon or pink in hue.

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_107_1.asp

Of course, you should also allow the planet to have risen well over 30 degrees above the horizon when looking for the GRS or other cloud features.

Dave Mitsky

[Champion_Munch]

Thanks. I'll give it another shot around this year's opposition. :)

with regards

[redshifter]

I've yet to see the GRS with my 10" as well, though I can't remember a time when I was observing Jupiter AND had good seeing. Thanks for the advice Dave!

[cjl]

Only the four Galilean satellites are readily visible through amateur instruments. The next brightest satellite is 14.1 magnitude Almathea (which was discovered by E. E. Barnard using the 36" Lick refractor) followed by 15th magnitude Himalia, which is a full magnitude dimmer than Pluto.

Dave Mitsky
Then I was probably mistaken. It was barely visible at all, and we speculated that it could have been a moon. It probably was a faint star though.

[mickal555]

I've seen the Great red spot with my scope- it should be re-named the great skincolored spot atm though ;)

[Blob]

Tomorrow Saturn will be the closest to the planet Earth for 2006 - It will roughly be 1215.9 million kilometres away.

8:30 pm on the 27th, looking East in the constellation Cancer, it will be beside the famous M-44 “Beehive” open star cluster.
See IMAGE (http://static.flickr.com/21/91086721_f8cae09392_o.gif)

The position and magnitudes of the moons of Saturn looking through battleship binoculars, at 8:30 pm tomorrow.
See IMAGE (http://static.flickr.com/36/91418668_321ce93760_o.gif)

The ring plane looks like it is tilted at 29 degrees from us.
A 2" scope should be able to show that and also a gap in the rings, as well as spot Titan.

[Dave Mitsky]

Isn't the ring plane tilt 19 degrees?

Dave Mitsky

[Blob]

Hum,
possibly,
it was just a guess,
But 19 sounds good too...

Anyway its tilted towards us.... ;)

[snabald]

I could see the ring gap as well as a few cloud details in my 4.5" scope on the 24th, Titan was clearly visible as well.

[Wolverine]

Looks like I'll have to wait a night or two for the clouds to break.

[Fr. Wayne]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060128.html

Looks like one of our members did on 1/21/06 See Astrophotography Forum.

[Dave Mitsky]

That's a great shot of Saturn and M44. I love the starburst effect emanating from Saturn.

Dave Mitsky

[Wolverine]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060128.html

Looks like one of our members did on 1/21/06 See Astrophotography Forum.

I took the liberty of replacing the above URL so it would display the image you intended rather than the main APOD address.