Super view of Saturn.

[ronl]

Couldn't believe how good the view of Saturn was last night, set up and gave the scope

plenty of time to reach ambient temperature, went out around 10.30 it was still virtually

daylight, thought I would have a quick look (as you do) used my 12mm Starguider and

Saturn looked quite reasonable, tried the 8mm, still a good view, 10.45 I thought I would

try the 5mm, even though the seeing didn't look that good, to my amazement Wow! the

best view of Saturn this year, and it wasn't really that dark, observed for over an hour

without taking my eye away from the eyepiece, couldn't believe my luck, I hope others

got the same view as I did, you just don't know how good the seeing is going to be until

you start observing, the sky certainly didn't look transparent.

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate,saturn is a fantastic planet my favorte.thanks for sharing..charl.

[patricmooriamnot]

Hi Ron, I had the same idea, set up my skywatcher 130 p  and saw Saturn in the best light. ( even though it was still light ) using  my 10mm and 2 x barlow. all I need now is a good camera to capture the moment.

Phil

[ronl]

Hi Phil, nice to hear you got a great view too, so much detail, in almost daylight, 

fingers crossed for more nights like that.

Clear Sky's

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely report, Ron. Saturn is very special, isn't it

[chiltonstar]

Saturn is what brought a lot of us into astronomy I imagine, and it's still a fantastic sight!

Great again tonight, even with x250 (Mak 127) with razor sharp Cassini and plenty of detail on Saturn itself, plus moons....

Chris

[pevsfreedom]

I saw Saturn for the first time a few weeks ago, though I must say I'm more impressed still with 'King' Jupiter. Wish I could get down w/ a 5mm EP, my limiting mag. on the planets is about 170x.

[patricmooriamnot]

Ron,Next Wednesday evening is looking good for looking.I will be be out no doubt. Phil

[ronl]

I will certainly be out, let's hope the forecast is right, If I can see the

Moon I'm out anyway, hope you have a great nights observing.

Clear Sky's

[BeanerSA]

We are in the guts of winter down here, but the nights are crystal clear (and freezing of course) and the last 2 nights we've been able to see the Cassini division and make out banding on the planet itself. All with a 150mm dob, 10mm ep. I even cracked out the 6mm which usually gives a degraded view, but it was exceptional too! Pretty awesome.

[ronl]

Hi BeanerSA, I'm getting the same view here, super detail but the difference is that it's

summer and Saturn is quite low in the sky here, and observing just after dusk, it doesn't

really get dark until well after midnight, nearer 1.00 am, that is the difference, but it's nice

to hear you are getting great views yourself.

Clear Sky's

[niallk]

Nice report! Dreaming of a clear 'night' to steal another look before it's too late - had just one really nice session on Saturn this year

I always remember one morning at ~4am a few years back when I viewed Saturn - and the seeing was so steady the view looked 'fake' in a funny way - hard to describe - it was just so crystal clear and unwavering. If only I had the binoviewer + my present EPs back then!

But that's half the fun - gotta keep on trying and coming back for more for another magical, memorable night...

[MarsG76]

Great report... I had a few great viewing nights of Saturn this years season. Its quite something else when you can push the magnification on Saturn. I had 3 nightswhere I magnified Saturn 406X with eyepieces 5mm Celestron X-Cel and 460X with TV 11mm Type 6 Nagler & 2.5X Powermate combo. The thing that helps a LOT is looking through stacked "contrast booster" and "moon & sky glow" filters. You have to see to believe the difference it makes to subtle detail.

[orion25]

I'm happy you had such a great viewing experience. Saturn is truly a treasure. Thanks for sharing your report!

Reggie

[BGazing]

Two days ago I again took the scope to a hill near Belgrade. The night was hazy and still and thus the tradeoff - awful for the DSOs and super for Saturn. Details, shades, clear Cassini...wow...it really floated out there, great 3d experience until it started descent into the horizon boil. And all that with my horrible 10mm stock EP.

DSOs were a nogo...packed the scope at 11 as the sky was not dark even at zenith. Too much still haze going around...