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Early morning Saturn


mikeyrea

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Up nice and early this morning for a butcher's at Saturn.

Yesterday's 'trial run' was a non-event as that gap in the cloud just did not appear (I blame BBC weather).

No such clouds this morning and had an uninterrupted view of the planet from about 6.30 - 7am.   Staying low - maybe about 14 deg in SSE.  Shimmering at x25 - like looking at it through oil.

Always majestic and surreal - hopefully the atmosphere will be a bit better behaved on future occasions :rolleyes2:   Probably not ideal that I'm viewing from sea level!

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the same boat, though having to get up early for work does put me in the rather convenient position of being able to do a cloud check every morning around 6 instead of merely hoping for the best!

If you don't me playing the newbie card in this thread, what sort of magnification would be considered reasonable on a good day given its low position in the sky this year?

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Got up at 4:30am and set the scope up, to my horror Saturn was hidden behind some houses so waited an hour for it to become high enough.

Ventured out into the freezing cold and caught the first glimpse....UNBELIEVABLE! Quite easily the most spectacular thing I've seen through my little scope, the rings were magnificent and could just make out a band on the planet I think.

Not sure what moon was nearby even if it was a moon at all, to the right.

It was shimmering somewhat in the low atmosphere and a light cloud bank didn't help, but oh my word am I happy...thoroughly loved seeing Saturn for the first time :-)

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"Calculon - what sort of magnification would be considered reasonable on a good day given its low position in the sky this year?"

I maxed out at about x25 but the 'seeing wasn't great.   would expect x40 from my 200P on a better day :)

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Absolutely love looking at Saturn always puts a massive smile on my face, i may very well get up early or even stay up to get a quick look at it in the morning weather conditions permitting :)

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If you don't me playing the newbie card in this thread, what sort of magnification would be considered reasonable on a good day given its low position in the sky this year?

I had a nice view at 50x but 120x way too much.  Could have put a barlow on the 12mm to try 100x but expect that would be bubbling with atmosphere too. 

When it gets higher, you can really sock it to it with the mag!   Totally enjoyable thing to look at! 

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It's been a spectacular sight again and the only good thing about working night's as getting in at 6am is great to see it rise in the south east.

I've managed through a little 80mm finder scope to pick out the rings and the gap between them and the planet itself.

Challenging but the only scope I have till the main one is finished.

Quite clear this morning and much calmer atmosphere than yesterday.

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