Who has got clear skies predicted for tonight ?

[JamesF]

That sounds to me that you're either not properly in focus, or looking at Spica, or both.

At 65x it's going to be quite small, but should be sharply focused and have clear "ears" around the circle of the planet even if you can't make out that they're the rings. I can see that much at nearer 45x.

If the scope doesn't appear to want to come to focus it may be that the truss isn't fully extended. It's not uncommon with the 130P to not have them properly extended and not realise it.

James

[Chris]

It's just very bright and can't see much. The scope is collimated fine, and even though the red-dot finder is out I'm sure it's Saturn..

To clarify, I can see it, it's just very bright and I can sort of make out a halo of light, but not much else (this is at 65x).

I think that with your 130p you should be able to see the rings clearly defined, I don't think you'd manage to see the Cassini division but you shouldn't have any doubt its Saturn, maybe you had dew on your secondary, bad seeing, or you had focus issues?

[Naemeth]

Scope was fully extended I believe, managed fine with Venus. I've had this on many nights, and I'm almost 100% sure it was Saturn, as I tried again at a point where the only 3 things in the sky were Saturn, Mars and Venus. Seeing seemed great too.

[jflowers]

I'm almost 100% sure it was Saturn, as I tried again at a point where the only 3 things in the sky were Saturn, Mars and Venus.

They are quite spread out, Saturn south, Mars west and Venus NW. Saturn should be very obviously Saturn and Venus will be a very obvious crescent in all but the lowest power eyepiece.

[Naemeth]

I got Venus fine tonight, Mars was a bit off, but Saturn is the one I'm never sure if I can actually see the rings, would a filter help??

[Chris]

Scope was fully extended I believe, managed fine with Venus. I've had this on many nights, and I'm almost 100% sure it was Saturn, as I tried again at a point where the only 3 things in the sky were Saturn, Mars and Venus. Seeing seemed great too.

Hmmm? dew maybe? check your secondary next time your out, its especially an issue with a truss scope I believe.

[jflowers]

I got Venus fine tonight, Mars was a bit off, but Saturn is the one I'm never sure if I can actually see the rings, would a filter help??

Dont think so no, have you looked at where it should be in Stellarium or similar? Once you get it in the eyepiece you will know it from the WOW sound coming from your mouth.

[JamesF]

I can't see a filter helping. If it's really Saturn it should be completely blindingly obviously so. That's why I think you might be looking at Spica. It's the very bright star about five degrees (the width of two fingers at arm's length) "below" Saturn.

James

[Naemeth]

It HAS to be Saturn to me though, it's a really bright white star. I can tell it's white, I was having a few colour whatcha-macallit's without the tube fully tightened, but once I tightened it it was fine and pure white. It had to be Saturn because it was the brightest thing I could find in the area. If only I could find a way to align my red-dot finder, but once again, the BRIGHTEST thing!

Was that anymore help?

I've had another thought, maybe it was Arcturus.. what I'm looking at is above my house, so maybe my house obscures Saturn...

[JamesF]

See, there's the thing. At 65x magnification it shouldn't look even remotely like a star. Not even close. It should look like a distinct disc with "ears". If you're using a 10mm eyepiece I'd expect it to take up perhaps as much as an eighth of the field of view.

James

[ianaiken]

I've had another thought, maybe it was Arcturus.. what I'm looking at is above my house, so maybe my house obscures Saturn...

I think that sounds about right. Saturn is quite low down if your viewing from your house grounds (yard or garden) so probably is obscured, for me to see it I had to use the wife. It will be Arcturus. You would see the rings of Saturn even at low power.

[Naemeth]

After a quick check of Stellarium, this "Saturn" is left and up of Mars, and may well be Arcturus .

[JamesF]

Ok, ok, so I got the wrong star

If you hold two fingers out horizontally together at arm's length below the star and there isn't another bright star about where the bottom of your fingers is, it's not Saturn (that second star would be Spica). If you can see the horizon or know where it is and put the tip of your your thumb on the horizon and stretch your little finger out fully as high as possible that should get you to about the right height in the sky for Spica.

James

[Naemeth]

Okay, so I had a look around the garden and found Saturn peaking out of the houses, got the scope back out, popped in the 25mm and KNEW it was Saturn, you're right, even at that magnification you can see it has rings, but not really any detail or the gap, put the 10mm in and it was truly a *wow* moment. Even got the other half out and she also exclaimed the wow. Thanks for all the help guys, and turns out, every other time would've been Arcturus and not Saturn, I'll really try never to make that mistake again, and I'll try spot Spica first too .

[JamesF]

To be fair, until you know the sky well and have an idea of what should be where and when, it can be quite hard to locate objects even by eye if you don't have a clear view of enough of the sky to relate stars and constellations to each other.

James

[Naemeth]

The thing is, Arcturus actually looks brighter than Saturn, that's why I've always got confused, and I've got Stellarium too! *sigh*

[JamesF]

Oh, and that planet you've just seen hanging there looking almost unreal with its rings; that's a billion and a half kilometres away, that is. Try getting your head around how big something has to be so that you can see its shape and detail such as the rings when it's that far away

James

[Naemeth]

Oh, and that planet you've just seen hanging there looking almost unreal with its rings; that's a billion and a half kilometres away, that is. Try getting your head around how big something has to be so that you can see its shape and detail such as the rings when it's that far away

James

Yeah, it really makes you wonder.

[ianaiken]

Bagging Saturn is awesome, pleased you got it in the end. It really is wow!

[Qualia]

A tad windy but clear skies here.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

M44 (Praesepe, Beehive cluster)

saturn but very very small in a 76-300mm scope

clear skys here in norfolk, but cold darn cold. also spotted another cluster, was star cruising and bumped into it, but dont know what one it was ( east near arcturus ).

[Codmate]

Just did Saturn and Mars as usual.

Then found M92 for the first time tonight.

Cold and a short session, but a good one!

Tonight's bonus - a neighbor's tree has sprouted leaves in front of an annoying streetlight!

[Bart]

waking bleary eyed , great night last night

[euphony]

It was semi-cloudy inbetween Notts/Derby at 10pm and looked promising so I put the scope out. After 45 minutes I had had enough of the intermittent cloud blocking every conceivable object worth viewing so between that and having to be up at 5:45am, I decided to pack it all away again! Having said that I managed to get very brief glimpses of Mars and saturn again. Once you know where these are they seem to become second nature to flip to. The cloud kept covering them up, but I still got a quick view (a bit fainter than I would like, definitely due to the cloudy conditions).

It looks like there is less cloud around tonight, so I'll give it another go. plus I don't need to be up until 8am, so I can get a few more hours in the garden. Fingers crossed guys!

[petermarknimmo]

I have clear skies predicted, unfortunately though I will be otherwise occupied with lots of A level revision to do.