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Saturns Enke division and a few doubles


jetstream

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After the thunderstorms today the sky cleared leaving a high string of Stratus clouds, mixed with the odd Cumulous bombing through. To set the stage for the Enke feature, I must report the seeing conditions... I used the Double Double in Lyra as the test and the 12.5mm Doc gave a gap that a truck could drive through lol! :laugh:  The 17E also gave a nice true split @ 70x. The moon took all the Zeiss zoom/VIP had, about 360x, and still gave a hard sharp image.

So, Saturn was great in the unbarlowed zooms- too good! :grin:

Off to fetch the VIP and a few rings etc. The ZZ/VIP pried the Enke division out of the A ring, a very thin thread and @ 330x mag it would come and go- this is very hard to detect. Once again the 10mm BCO/VIP + rings gave a great presentation and also the division! The BCO was cooler than the zoom, but this thin curved line gave up to the BCO too. The zoom gave much richer colors on this object tonight for sure. All the easier features were obviously seen : C ring, B ring, Cassini div and a highly contrasted A ring and the planet itself gave up wonderful colors.

Eta Cass gave up a great garnet sec, I love this double, same for Albireo- the granddaddy showcase color double.....well I actually prefer Izar! Much harder though.

It is amazing what an obstructed newt on a manual dob can accomplish!

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Fabulous report Gerry. I've not seen the Enke gap for about ten years, since Saturns rings were last well placed.

The rain certainly does clear the atmosphere doesn't it? Glad the scope and the eyepieces are working well for you.

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Brilliant Gerry :smiley:

I've detected the Encke Minima with my 12" but not thus far a certain sighting of the Gap or Division itself. Great stuff !!!

Saturn has been showing well here but I'm sure all the experience UK planetary observers find themselves thinking as I do when observing it "I wish it was a wee bit higher in the sky !" :rolleyes2:

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Brilliant Gerry :smiley:

I've detected the Encke Minima with my 12" but not thus far a certain sighting of the Gap or Division itself. Great stuff !!!

Saturn has been showing well here but I'm sure all the experience UK planetary observers find themselves thinking as I do when observing it "I wish it was a wee bit higher in the sky !" :rolleyes2:

John, what is the difference between the minima and the gap? How do you tell?

I ask because I always assumed I saw the gap in a 6" newt when Saturn was at high altitude with rings wide open ten or more years ago, but perhaps it was the minima?

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John, what is the difference between the minima and the gap? How do you tell?

I ask because I always assumed I saw the gap in a 6" newt when Saturn was at high altitude with rings wide open ten or more years ago, but perhaps it was the minima?

My understanding is that the Minima is a slighty less bright section of the A that is roughtly between the inner and outer edges of the A ring wheras the Division is proper gap, a much smaller version of the Cassini Division, much closer to the outer edge of the A ring.

Great views of Saturn again this evening by the way. 300x with my ED120 and it's still really sharp. Even 360x is quite useable.  :smiley: 

I can see the C ring and shading around the inner edges of the B ring ansae plus brightness variations between the rings and lots of contrast in the bands on the planets disk plus polar cap darkening. Really nice :cool2:

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When seeing comes around like this it is amazing what can be seen and also how varying the mag changes the presentation. The A ring was distinct, but it did show a shade variation that I figured was the minima, past this, near the tip a fine little curved line popped in view, it was sharp actually, but really thin. The A ring shading seems "softer" than the further line if this makes sense.

Another thing I would like to add is that some EP's of equal quality either work better at times than their rivals or give much different tones and contrast levels on the planets. This was the case here, one EP gave much better views of certain features, like the A ring. I think it may have something to do with the sky/clouds/transparency and who knows what else...

Thanks for the input and explanations John, this always helps. :smiley:

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That sounds like I imagine the Encke Division would look Gerry - very fine, thin and black :smiley:

Good point about eyepiece behaviour under excellent seeing conditions too. I guess the characteristics of the various fetures vary from subtle but extended contrast changes to small sharply defined features. The optical prescription that might do best on one type, say cloud detail on the planet, could well be surpassed by another when the challenge is of a slightly different type, such as a narrow ring division or a small faint moon.

The perfect excuse to own lots of eyepieces and scopes :grin:

It's fascinating stuff :smiley:

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Fantastic stuff Gerry, sounds like you've got amazing seeing at the moment, I can only dream of that sort of detail currently.

I suspect from your description that I did see the Enke gap rather than just the minima, it was certainly far more of a hard line than a more subtle brightness difference. Saturn was much higher at the time, but I was far less experienced!

Hope the seeing holds out for a while yet :)

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I've seen the Enke Division only once (through a large frac) but certainly the conditions at the moment are impressive; even with only 5" last night Cassini was a sharp black line, there was some detail on the inner side of the ring(?), both shadows (planet on ring and ring on planet), and four moons.

Chris

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I've seen the Enke Division only once (through a large frac) but certainly the conditions at the moment are impressive; even with only 5" last night Cassini was a sharp black line, there was some detail on the inner side of the ring(?), both shadows (planet on ring and ring on planet), and four moons.

Chris

I could see darkening on the inside rim of the B ring ansae last night. It's the region where the "spokes" have been imaged by the space craft, not that my ED120 can quite compete with them :grin:

300x was pretty crisp last night and the planet seemed 3-dimensional at times. Add observing in shorts and a t-shirt with a cool beer in hand and the hobby seems very joyous :smiley:

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Lovely report Gerry, what a night hey!

I was also out, the Moon was fantastic with the Skylight 60 plus BV's and 25mm Plossls, Moving to Saturn with the BV's was great albeit a little small. Cassini was strongly hinted at (minima?), and signs of surface shading. Best cyclops view was with the 7mm Luminos.

Things went up a gear with the C100ED and 5 and 6mm SLV's, very clear Cassini, razor sharp with the 6mm, lots of lovely shading. I thought I was out for about 30 minutes but it turned out to be 2 hours! 

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I could see darkening on the inside rim of the B ring ansae last night. It's the region where the "spokes" have been imaged by the space craft, not that my ED120 can quite compete with them :grin:

300x was pretty crisp last night and the planet seemed 3-dimensional at times. Add observing in shorts and a t-shirt with a cool beer in hand and the hobby seems very joyous :smiley:

I didn't dare try the shorts as I had lost quite a lot of blood to the midges, even fully clothed....

Chris

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