4 planets..despite the forecast

[baggywrinkle]

Starting to be able to use the grab n go ST120 in earnest and check its limits.

I went up to Seething last night where the Norwich Astronomical Soc has a splendid observing area. Despite the forecasts it was very clear with some high cirrus.

Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn all visible at the same time.

I used the ST120 on Mars and Mercury with a  Takahashi10mm LE. The Takahashi 5mm LE was just too much and CA was obvious.

Pity I did not have a filter for Jupiter, it certainly needed it, so bright. Three moons and bands very visible in the T10mmLE.

Saturn was a beauty, sharp in the 10mm and along with Jupiter the T10mmLE showed only moderate CA. As a test I compared the T10mmLE with the stock 10mm supplied by Skywatcher, the SW10mm was OK however the image off Saturn was less bright and some detail was being lost on Jupiter. Saturn's moon Titan was also less obvious.

I replaced the stock prism supplied by SW with a TS diagonal, that too improved things

All in all a good evening with friendly folk. The dew started dropping around 22:30. The ST120 objective was fine but the RDF dewed up.

[nightfisher]

Nice one, i had planed to view some planets last night, maybe even image Saturn, but the cloud did not budge