Cotswold AS observing evening, 12th Feb

[ian_d]

Just a quick observing report on last night's CAS observing evening, held at Bredon Cricket Club.

Reasonably good skies (if a little misty, cold and damp!) meant that we were able to get a good look at a number of objects. Saturn was a great sight in the 5" reflector that one of the chaps brought along - could clearly make out the gap between the planet and the rings, and even Titan was visible as a bright dot about 200 arcseconds west of the rings. If I thought the glimpse through the 'scope on Saturday was good, then this was absolutely breathtaking!

The Moon was obviously washing out a fair proportion of the sky, but this presented a nice opportunity to have a close-up look at the terminator through no less than a 10" SCT. Felt close enough to touch!

I set one of the guys a challenge with his LX90 - could he split Castor? We reckon he did indeed manage it, although it was a close-run thing...just about able to make out two blueish-white stars.

Also spent some time talking some of the less experienced members through some good stuff to find with binoculars (Praesepe, Orion Nebula, Perseus double cluster) - that was a bit of a laugh. (Listen to me - I've only been doing this for a few months myself!! )

Anyway, overall it was a really good night with plenty of nice stuff to see. Could have done with a little less dampness in the air, but other than that it was fine. The view of Saturn was worth the drive to Bredon alone!