Saturn as a Blurr

[IIxFUSIONZxMMx]

Hi everyone Mark here. May I ask a question? The other morning I got up early to view Saturn for the first time ever and was a bit disappointed with what I saw. The sun was still below the horizon and the moon was still visible along with mars a small reddish dot. Can anybody tell me the best time to view Saturn and its rings? any help will be much appreciated.

Many thanks mark

[ronin]

I think early April. :eek:

Presently Saturn is still fairly low, that means more atmosphere and a more chaotic atmosphere.

So light passing through it gets bounced around and what you end up seeing is generally poor.

You will get good times and people have but in 3 months time it is beter positioned and so what you see is better.

Trouble with astronomy is an answer of 5:30 is just a guess.

Bad weather to the East throws it all out the window.

Whereas early April simply has a greater chance of success.

[IIxFUSIONZxMMx]

Thank you very much for your help Ronin I will bear that in mind.

[ronin]

Should have added that I would guess that about an hour before sunrise would be a fairly good choice, the sun is still down and Saturn will be at a fair height.

It will come down to how late in the morning and how light the sky is.

[Moonshane]

Saturn will be low in the sky for quite a while even at opposition

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/saturn.htm

[IIxFUSIONZxMMx]

Thankyou moonshine for the link you posted very helpful

Thanks Mark

[IIxFUSIONZxMMx]

ok thank you ronin

[Astro Imp]

Saturn will be low in the sky for quite a while even at opposition

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/saturn.htm

Thanks for that Shane, an absolute wealth of information contained on that site.

[AndyWB]

FWIW, I looked at Saturn a few weeks ago, at about 0600 - and yes, it was a blur, though I could see the shape of it. Even though it won't get high like Jupiter, it was far better close to opposition last year, which is good!

[Kirscovitch]

I had my first view ever of Saturn last night and it was a horrible view lol.

It was so low on the horizon I actually had to view it between 2 wires on a telephone pole and right above a house.

[IIxFUSIONZxMMx]

Thank you for all of your advice and help

[Naemeth]

I definitely agree with the other comments - Saturn is nowhere near best as it's too close to the horizon right now - where you are looking through more atmosphere and it is more likely to be looking through the turbulent city air.

Jupiter is very good right now because of it's position in the sky, and it gets near zenith at a reasonable time. Best to wait until Saturn is higher in the sky before attempting high magnification - about 20 or 30 degrees up should do .