Saturn: Early AM 14-05-14

[John]

I've just had a nice hour observing Saturn with my 12" dobsonian. It's the first time I've managed to get the dob onto Saturn this opposition as I have to wait for the planet to pop into an open piece of sky between a house roof and some trees.

Worth the wait though, despite it's low altitude and the presence of a nearby and nearly full moon. The ring system is wonderfully displayed with the Cassini Division clear right around the rings, the Crepe Ring visible and shading on the inside edge of the B ring where it meets the C or Crepe Ring. There seemed to be broad equatorial darker banding on the planets disk plus darker polar regions. 

6 Saturnian moons were on show during this session: Titan, Dione, Tethys, Rhea, Iapetus and the tiny icy Enceladus. I was very pleased to see Enceledus again given the proximity of the bright Moon and the low altitude of Saturn resulting in a slightly atmosphere extinguished magnitude of around 12.8 for this little moon I think. With the Moon absent I might even have a chance of picking up the 13th magnitude Mimas

Having had some nice views of Mars earlier in the night plus some nice doubles and a look at M13 as it rose higher in Hercules, it was a nice session 

[SteveB72]

I have not managed to see Enceladus yet. it always seemed to be lost in the glow of Saturn. Do you have ant tips?

[John]

I use Stellarium to find when Enceladus is positioned as far from Saturn and it's rings as possible. I also find eyepieces which control light scatter very well such as orthoscopics or the Pentax XW's help to keep the glare from Saturn under control which helps finding the faint spark of light that is Enceladus.  

[Dreamweaver]

whipped out the scope and started observing Saturn for the first time ever with my 80mm APO at around 11.15pm (Wednesday) from my front door but only for about fifteen minutes before I had to leave and pick up the other half from the station. It was just above my  neighbour's house opposite so I felt a bit funny about setting up on my doorstep looking at what might have appeared to anybody else observing me, to be straight into their house! The telescope was not at a high enough angle to make it look obvious that I was looking at the sky as Saturn was only just visible above their roof. Hmm...

Anyway I  could make out the Cassini ring easy enough (never seen this before) plus a slightly darker band not quite in the center of Saturn and perhaps a darker bit around the top of the planet too but not sure if this is meant to be there or not.  I shall have to check this out. The image was at 200X magnification and very sharp. Although our moon was blasting away  at full strength in very close proximity it was still a wow moment for me to see Saturn and the rings in very reasonable clarity, the best I have seen to date.  The only other time was through my 90mm Mak when I first bought it,  getting on for two years ago now.  I was gobsmacked then - even more so now! Hopefully with time I should be able to tease out more detail. 

[John]

Dreamweaver - if you are getting clear views of the Cassini Division with an 80mm scope it's doing well !

[Dreamweaver]

Thanks. Yes John it's a good little scope, perhaps a bit on the heavy side if you are considering doing any travelling but well worth the money. I read your post of the 17th April, should have looked at it first me now thinks!. Very informative, especially with the annotated picture. I was right then about the darker bit around the north pole area. Can't wait to have another look to see what else comes to light. 

[andyb505]

Have not been able to see Saturn yet, but last night spent a good 15-20 mins just gazing at Jupiter and her moons. I am still blown away that I can see such things so clearly with my cheap scope!

Also had a wander around a few stars to help my education and looked for a couple of galaxies (sombrerro was one) but too much light pollution and a bit of misty cloud cover meant I could not find/see them.

Will try and find Saturn at the weekend (clear skies permitting).

Andrew

[bob-c]

ello john nice report mate.i was looking last night at saturn.managed 4 moons,looking at stellarium titan. rhea. dione. and tethys.

bob.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely report. Haven't seen Saturn this opposition yet. Trees are in the way.