saturn

[quimby44]

hello all you stargazers could do with some help when will saturn be visable somebody told me its in april sometime but dont know when anyone got any dates and times roughly please thanks stephen

[ronin]

Would expect it to be visible now, not sure what time.

Closest to us is around the end of May, which is not that far off.

Creeps up in the South East about 1:00, guess that is 1:00 UTC so 2:00 BST

May therefore be better option to get up early and look for it before the sun gets up.

Seems to be effetively due South (more or less) at 4:00, left of the moon and not very high - equally the horizon Stellarium gives me tends to be quite high compared to what I see. I have chosen Ocean, so it seems I am hemmed in by some very large tidal waves all rushing towards me.

[Gazabone]

According to Stellarium, it's currently at 16h 12' RA and -18 deg 56' Dec which puts it just below Ophiuchus. If I'm reading my Planisphere right it will be rising at about midnight at the moment. Very low down on the horizon of course but should hove into view quite nicely in the early hours. Personally I think I'll hold fire until a little later in the year when it's at more socialable hours. Hope that helps anyway

[Stu]

Currently it rises at just after midnight and is at its best at 4.30am.

Opposition is on May 23rd when it will be at its best for the year. Unfortunately Saturn is not particularly well positioned at the moment so even then it will only rise at 8.30pm and transit at 1am. It will only be 20 degrees above the horizon then so the views won't be great I'm afraid. It's going to be a few years before it is much higher again

[Gazabone]

Should add my times are GMT not BST. Happy viewing

[quimby44]

thanks everybody i think if i dont try it i  wont know cheers

[Stu]

thanks everybody i think if i dont try it i wont know cheers

Very true! An early morning for you then! Let us know how you get on

[John]

I remember getting up at 3 in the morning to get my 1st ever view of Saturn with my old 60mm Tasco refractor 30+ years ago. I'll never forget the feeling of seeing it in the eyepiece

[LukeSkywatcher]

You will simply never forget your first view of Saturn through a telescope,its that special. I can remember my exact words (all 5 of them) which i spoke out loud to myself when i first saw it in 2008. I cant type them here though.

All i'll say is that "WOW" was one of them. Its the most commonly used word when people see it for the first time.

My first view was with a 90mm refractor. Its the only reason i still have the same scope today (packed away). It is special to me because its the scope i used to see Saturn for the first time.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I remember my first view of Saturn, I sat inside watching Match of the Day and The Football League Show waiting for it to creep out from around the house. It is a truly beautiful sight.

Matt.

[Joves]

Single most amazing first view of an object I've ever had. Inspired me to buy my first scope.

I recall being in Byron Bay and a guy had a small SCT set up on the foot path, charging $2 for peek at Saturn. I figured "What the hey", paid my $2 and took a look. Wow! I had to look at the front of the scope (had no idea it was called a corrector plate at that time) to see that he didn't have a cartoon sketch of the planet stuck on it.

From memory, the next wowed observer after me knocked over the poor guys scope... Ouch!!

[ghostdance]

Saturn via telescope does seem to be one of those unforgettable pivotal moments - I think eclipsing Jupiter because one can see the Galilean moons with binoculars, but Saturn remains a bright but suspect oval (at least in 15x, never had the pleasure of higher mag bins) until she steps forth clad in those radiant rings under the eyepiece...utterly *magical* as others have said. Sealed my fate to be a committed permanently jaw-dropped stargazer when Saturn first did her veil dance for me...we danced together that night as I recall - me in my small ivy--shadowed backyard and Saturn turning gracefully out there in the boundless deep blue of early summer.

I recall the Beehive was another great, tho for me purely accidental, find - same with Sigma Orionis and X Cancri. So many since...'swhy I love this dark art. You never know what new wonders will hove into view...and just by looking around

[Jimtheslim]

Had my first ever view of Saturn last night. Stayed up to have a look at the moon and realised it was just visible over the horizon between gaps in the trees and not very bright at all. The moon was showing there was a lot of high, wispy cloud in the atmosphere and it was over an area of high light pollution so I almost didn't want to have a look in case I was disappointed. Of course I had to have a look and it is a great sight, even when seeing conditions are terrible. I could clearly see the bulge of the rings which just about became defined from the planet with a bit more focus. It would only tolerate my 26mm with everything else loosing a lot of detail. I think because it's such an identifiable and characteristic planet that we remember from learning about space at school. Even children who don't know the solar system can still identify Saturn and we see so many Saturn like planets in science fiction that it's always going to be memorable when we see it for the first time.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I recently showed my girlfriend Jupiter through the scope, mainly because she thought it would just be star like, as it is with the naked eye, and even though she could make out the banding on the planet, and I explained the other points of lights were actually Moons, she still wasn't really excited.

I am hoping that once Saturn is up at a reasonable hour, albeit low in the sky, it might be a bit more excitement out of her.

Matt.

[Jimtheslim]

I recently showed my girlfriend Jupiter through the scope, mainly because she thought it would just be star like, as it is with the naked eye, and even though she could make out the banding on the planet, and I explained the other points of lights were actually Moons, she still wasn't really excited.

I am hoping that once Saturn is up at a reasonable hour, albeit low in the sky, it might be a bit more excitement out of her.

Matt.

That's exactly the reaction I got with Jupiter! I Iined it up in the eyepiece and told my wife to have a look and tell me what she saw. "It looks like a planet with stripes on" came the reply after looking in the eyepiece for no more than 3 seconds before she briskly walked off inside to watch the television.

[Joves]

Haha... Well said, Slim Jim. Thats pretty much my wife down to a tee, regardless of what I show her through the scope.

Personally, I find that whilst Jupiter is a much more dynamic planet to view on a regular occasion, it wasnt a patch on Saturn on its first viewing.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Amazing how our interests can vary so much, something that gets us so excited doesn't make a dent on other people. Guess that's what keeps the world interesting though.

Matt.

[Jimtheslim]

Maybe my equipment just isn't big enough to instil a sense of awe

[Stu]

I normally get a 'that's pretty' from the Mrs for Saturn or Jupiter, which is a step up from 'there's another fuzzy grey blob' [emoji3]

Solar gets her interest for a few more seconds of there are some big proms around. Again, 'pretty' is the normal response [emoji6]

[DeanSL]

I had a similar reaction from my other half with Jupiter. Not seen Saturn yet, but my first good view of Jupiter caused a sharp intake of breath, it was so good. I think it's because it was way better than I had expected, after reading about expectations I had set the bar really low.

[Jimtheslim]

I had a similar reaction from my other half with Jupiter. Not seen Saturn yet, but my first good view of Jupiter caused a sharp intake of breath, it was so good. I think it's because it was way better than I had expected, after reading about expectations I had set the bar really low.

Me too. I thought it might just be a bright disc with perhaps a couple of moons visible and perhaps being able to make out the cloud bands. Yes it's small in the eyepiece but there was so much more to it than I was expecting. I think it's also the novelty of seeing something that you know is so massive and turbulent just sliding by silently in the eyepiece in such sharp contrast.

[ghostdance]

My wife purports to love the ISS, but last night even it could not draw her off the sofa where she was hypnotised by some baby programme....sigh...

I gave up and went back outside to check on *my* baby, a healthy 23kg f5....

[Stub Mandrel]

Last year I waited ages for saturn to start appearing at a sociable time, having discovered jupiter through my camera. I nearlyt fell overwhen I took the first photo expecting a dot, zoomed in on the preview and saw rings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eventually got as far as this with the camera and registax:

Now I keep going to the loo in the middle of the night hoping for a lack of cloud 'cause now I have a scope there's nothing I want to see more than Saturn!

And, hopefully, tomorrow a webcam adaptor and a Microsft HD Webcam will arrive and the fun can start...

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Last night Saturn was about 5 degrees east of the moon at about 0300 Set Alarm and got a couple of hours in viewing her. She's back now for a good few weeks but you will need early starts to get the best of her. Best of look.

[damnut]

Hi there,

Good advice above. If you download stellarium it will show you where the planets are in the sky. To be found here :-- www.stellarium.org