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nice to see saturn last night

tenbyfifty

By tenbyfifty
in The Astro Lounge

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tenbyfifty

tenbyfifty

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Amazingly the clouds rolled back at around 1am last night and even though a bit pooped i dusted off my extremely modest 70mm refractor and set it up for an extremely modest and wobbly view of Saturn. You have to say though even the basic view of Saturn where u can see the rings and maybe the gap between them and the planet itself is still kind of mind blowing when u think its a billion miles away. alas i got frustrated quite quickly swapping eps back and for to find it again (the main reason the scope's been gathering dust -my eps ain't parfocal neither) and went to bed , but if u have any kind of scope i guess u should never take that privileged view of an amazing world for granted. Who knows, there might only be a handful of planets as beautiful as Saturn in the entire galaxy and don't forget we are the only animals for maybe thousands of light years who even know its there let alone with a box seat view of it!

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MalvernWalker

MalvernWalker

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Yes, fantastic to see Saturn again after all the clouds and rain. Low down at 11.30 in Worcestershire and some moon glow, but a promise of better views into April. We have a 4.5 inch reflector and Saturn still spectacular.

Regards

Derek

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knobby

knobby

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Here too... Saw it for about 2 minutes last night before the clouds rolled over... But 2 minutes is better than 0 minutes :D

So when the clocks go back tonight that means it will be up about 10.30 tomorrow

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John

John

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It was pretty nice last night. 4 moons were showing plus the Cassini Division and the broad equatorial dust belt around the planets disk. It still looked sharp at 257x with my ED120 refractor so seeing conditions must have been decent :smiley:

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colesmat

colesmat

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I got a great view last night (not as detailed as John saw but it was my first time out with the scope). According to google skymap I may struggle tonight as it'll be lower in the sky but one can hope!

Matt

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jonathan

jonathan

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Yesterday was the first time I've seen Saturn with my current scope, and what a sight it was indeed! We've got lovely clearly skies all night tonight...

That's what my weather forecast said too just before I went out with scope, but now 60 minutes later it's wall to wall snow clouds (with snow). Scope is under an old waterproof coat, I'll be waiting inside to see if the clouds clear, Saturn should be up about midnight. Seeing is a bit fuzzy, Jupiter is a 10mm object maximum in my 150P tonight (though that could be due to it being low in the sky now).

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m12_shakes

m12_shakes

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I've just come back in now...best obs session of the year for me :smiley:

Picked out the Ring nebula and the Hercules cluster, I was hoping to see the Whirpool galaxy, but I just couldn't find it (Come on FLO, get the Telrad back in stock! :tongue:)

Regards,

m12

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Stargazer_00

Stargazer_00

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Also Had a very good night last night. Got to try out all my new es eyepieces thoroughly, my new focuser upgrade on the dob, my new grab and go 150p which was also flocked just yesterday. A truly great night. Was out from 9 till 4 due to the click change. I had to put on a second coat on top of my main coat around 2am due to the freezing must have looked funny

So many new targets viewed. Saturn stole more than an hour of constant observation. First Saturn in my dob since I got it last summer and first cassini division. Sure At times I saw 3 dark rings, 2 being closer to the planet and thinner. I even managed fanatic detail in the 150p including all 4 moons on show, again the cassini division and cloud banding on the planet face at 160x. The little scope is a perfect grab an go

Too much to report, must have bagged 40 or more targets of which 20 were new for me including some ice looked for before and never seen! Elated :)

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earth titan

earth titan

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Nice to get a good session in after what seems like forever. Shame the moon was coming up - made fuzzy hunting that bit more difficult.

M3, M31, M57 and so it went. My favourite Messiers - I love this time if year!

Saturn's rings look fabulous this year. Cassini division showing nicely. Even managing to pick up colour on the main planetary disc.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

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astro mick

astro mick

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You lucky lot.

Unfortunately clouded out again last night on the Yorkshire East Coast.

Waited till Midnight(01.00am),showed signs of clearing form the East,but to be honest,i,ve just about had enough of this East Coast for the moment,its been hammered this year.

Forecast said CLEAR,what a joke.

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jonathan

jonathan

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Waited till Midnight(01.00am),showed signs of clearing form the East,but to be honest,i,ve just about had enough of this East Coast for the moment,its been hammered this year.

Yeah, probably would have been clear(er) at around 2am or 3am, but I'm just not that keen.

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astro mick

astro mick

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Yeah, probably would have been clear(er) at around 2am or 3am, but I'm just not that keen.

2.00am/3.00am,is a very late time to set up for me also.I can stop out to around 2.00am,but tiredness overtakes even then.

Also at the moment i just dont trust it to be worthwhile at that time.

Its saying better Tuesday/Wed for us,but ho how that can change.

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Stargazer_00

Stargazer_00

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I started packing away at 3am, and when I put the dob back in the shed next to the grab and go I thought... hmm i wonder what saturn looks like in that. So I got the 150p out to have a look at saturn, and then an hour later (and some other hmm moments) I packed up again!

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Siriusmeg

Siriusmeg

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I've just come back in now...best obs session of the year for me :smiley:

Picked out the Ring nebula and the Hercules cluster, I was hoping to see the Whirpool galaxy, but I just couldn't find it (Come on FLO, get the Telrad back in stock! :tongue:)

Regards,

m12

Just managed to see the whirlpool last night but it was very washed out by the moonlight. Very pleased I managed to find the Leo trio too, especially with the moon lurking. Great to be out again :grin:

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Scooot

Scooot

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I went out about 8 and came in just before midnight. It was the first time for a while so I set up in the front of my house facing west so I could get a view of orion as it won't be around for much longer. I had a good look at the clusters in Auriga, M3, several doubles and a few galaxies towards the end. The one thing that sticks in my mind though is a double star called Cor Caroli that I'd never seen before. I thought that was stunning.

Despite several layers of clothing I was too cold to move everything to get a view of Saturn towards the end of the evening, despite my brother on the phone telling me what a great view of it he had! It was a good evening nevertheless but next time i'll have a look at the great planet. :smiley:

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