Observing Saturnian transits

[astroeddie]

:saturn:

Guys,

Its time once again when its possible to observe the moons of Saturn as they and their shadow transit her disc .

Has anyone here actually observed this specticle ?

If not, then whats the minimum sized scope you'd need to pick out the events ?

Cheers in advance

Eddie H

[algol]

:saturn:

Its time once again when its possible to observe the moons of Saturn as they and their shadow transit her disc .

Eddie H

you mean His disc surely????

[Astroman]

I've only seen this once, and I think it was with the C8, but someone on this forum imaged a shadow transit serendiptously a while back. (I forget who or when.)

At any rate, the larger the scope, the better, as the resolution depends on the aperture. Jupiter transits are easier because the moons are larger and the planet is closer. Saturn is another story. I'll have to check into it...Thanks for the heads up!

[astroeddie]

Here's an article from the S&T website.

Seems that they visible even in small amateur telescopes.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/hobbyqanda/3410556.html

Once my scope arrives here I'll be on the lookout for definate !

[Rob]

Not managed it with Saturn, but have many times with Jupiter!.

Rob

[astroeddie]

yes,

Many moon transits with Jupiter myself, including a few double transits. I've also noted albedo markings on the moon Ganymede. Pale pink disc with a slight dark streak. Minute ofcourse but I did spot it. With a 10" F/5.8 newt.

The imagers amongst the forum have a great chance to capture these events to show us all. I'm usually a few 1,000 miles away from my scope when anything unusual occurs.

Eddie

[astroeddie]

Check out this amazing 45 minutes sequence caught by Alan Friedman over on CN.

Totally awesome.

[beamish]

Eddie your link's not working but looks really interesting.

Karlo

[astroeddie]

The animation seems to be Ok here, but, here's a link to the posting. (hope this is allowed)

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2282364/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

Eddie

[Naz]

Looking at the Sky & Telescope article, they mention a 6 1/2" scope, I would presume that this was a refractor, at about f10 t0 f15 as was quite common then, so it may be possible with a modern scope, such as the Mak design that are around f11 + and an aperture of about 6" plus maybe under favourable conditions may just see a transit. The average Newtonian off about f5 to f8, will struggle as the resultant image will be quite small.

If Astroman hasn't seen a transit yet, then you would have to be very lucky.

But keep looking, you might just hit gold.

naz