Problems viewing saturn

[kernowstargazer]

Hi all had a good night last night viewed jupiter which was amazing to see the moons and some banding i was amazed and got goose bumped from seeing the detail. I managed to see a washed out Orion nebula due to moon but it was still outstanding i love this hobby. I waited for saturn to come above the houses and it seemed to be twinkling like a star. I asumed this was atmospheric so waited a little longer. I got it in the finderscope then popped my 25mm in to get it centred and then popped my 10mm in and all i managed to see was a bright object i couldnt see any detail as it was so bright it looked like a star but stellerium confirmed it to me it was saturn. I kept at it and i just couldnt get any small detail as it was so bright. Am i doing something wrong or is there something wrong my scope. I have skyliner 150p dob.

Cheers, Kernowstargazer

[dave750t]

it looked like a star but stellerium confirmed it to me it was saturn. I kept at it and i just couldnt get any small detail as it was so bright. Am i doing something wrong or is there something wrong my scope. I have skyliner 150p dob.

Cheers, Kernowstargazer

Saturn is quite close in the sky to the star Spica and they both have a similar brightness - could you have confused the two? I was looking at Saturn last night with a smaller scope than yours and I could clearly see the planet's disc and rings.

[hemihaggis]

You would know for sure if you were looking at saturn .........

[Catweazel]

Hi. Yeah, Saturn is instantly recognisable. I can see rings clearly with a 25mm EP, so you must have been looking at something else

[Daniel-K]

last night saturn was to the left of spica i used my 12mm on saturn last night ans could clearly see the rings and a moon

[rwilkey]

You'll instantly know when you have Saturn, the rings will blow you away, so if you didn't fall over backwards, you were probably looking at something else. About the brightness, do you have a filter to tone down the brightness?

[kernowstargazer]

I thought i was looking at spica as it was very bright but to the right and up a little there was a fainter object which stellerium said it wa spica. Did saturn come up about 10pm last night? if so then i was looking at it but it was very bright. I dont have a filter only the large scope cap which remove the smaller cap to reduce the brightness. If the clouds let me ill have a another go tonight as i really want to veiw it. I got a really big WOW moment with jupiter and the Orion neb. Cheers for all the comments guys.

[chiltonstar]

With any scope last night, Saturn would have been obvious, even if the image was too bright (ie, I agree, you may have been looking at Spica).

With my Mak 127mm at 23.00, it was totally obvious, with a good well-tilted ring structure, a bright moon visible, and even hints of the Cassini division once or twice.

Chris

[kenmyers]

Yes you will see Saturns rings even at low magnification. You can't mistake it for anything else.

Spica and Saturn are walking together at the moment, it is easy to point at the wrong one.

[scuffer]

I can't see Saturn till after 11.00pm due to houses but I'm sure that goes for spica as well , make sure your co-ordinates are correct in stellarium . as others said it must have been the star

[assasincz]

Yeah, there is no missing Saturn, even with binos:)

[littlebeagle]

As said no mistaking Saturn when you get it, must have been Spica you were looking at.

This was taken last night afocally with my phone.

[Caelus]

As others have said, I think you might have been looking at Spica. As you look at them with the naked eye, Spica is actually the slightly brighter of the two. If you get another clear night, try leaving it until about 10.30 or 11pm for Saturn to get further above the horizon and try again. You'll know you have the correct object because it has a very distinct "custard" yellow colour, even on a fairly modest magnification. Using your 25mm eyepiece, you will clearly see the rings. It will never just look like a bright disc through your scope!

Edit: littlebeagle's photo really is representative of what you'll be able to see of Saturn using your 150.

[kernowstargazer]

Cheers guys the more i think about it the more i think i was looking at the wrong thing i think i was having a Derrrrrrr money silly tw@. Cant wait to the next clear night so i can check out this amazing sight. I just love this hobby it so wonderful to see the wonders of the night sky when its all calm in the night.

[king-jaffethehutt]

Hi Kernow,

Sounds exactly like my night last night.....Doh!! I did realise though as spica was twinkling and that is usually the first thing to look for.

use my phone with google sky map as a rough guide, it is quite good too.

need to stay up a bit later though and catch it high up.

happy gazing

King-jaffe

[kernowstargazer]

I have now popped my saturn cherry it was spectacular :headbang:. I am spell bound at how much detail i could see i think i could even see the furthest moon Titan.

Now for the DUNCE bit i was having problems because i was veiwing Arcturus and Muphid which comes up a bit more to the east and sort of comes up in the same patern. Oh well ive seen it now and cant wait till i can veiw it again it was just amazing. Cheers guys for all the help.