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Cassini Division


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The smallest aperture I've seen the Cassini Division with is an 80mm refractor and that was when the rings were wide open. I've heard of scopes down to 60mm being able to detect it but I've never managed it with my old 60mm refractor.

My 102mm refractor has shown the feature on and off this year and it's routinely visible with my 120mm refractor.

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Excellent! I shall keep looking - If only this wind would ease up. Does anyone know how the Cassini Division (great name for a band) may have been caused and although slightly off topic what causes the rings we can see on the planets surface.

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I have Saturn in the centre of the XW 5mm and the C/Division isn't showing, last Wednesday i could have driven a Bus through the gap....the weatherman earlier in the week did say its gonna be murky down the east coast, he may just have got it right...:(

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I believe I saw the division through my 8SE last night, a dark band around the outer of the rings. I think the outer most rings were too faint for my scope / conditions so it looked as though the division was actually at the edge of the rings to me. It was very obvious against the planet disc.

I could also see a dark band around the planet, could this have been the ring shadow?

As I have to look over many roof tops from my garden location I had to be patient with the atmospheric disturbances, but there were short periods when everything went to perfect focus and pin-sharp.

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Still quite wobbly down here, will go out again in a few minutes to see if things have calmed down a bit.

Had some ok views of the moon earlier, some 'wows' from the children which is nice.

Stu

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Just looked in 'Turn left at Orion', which arrived yesterday. The division will get easier to see as the rings tilt. In 2016/17 we should see the rings face on rather than seeing them edge on. There's hope yet.

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