Saturn last night - disappointed...

[Mr niall]

On 24/06/2017 at 09:22, Paz said:

I've recently had a look at saturn in a 127mm maksutov and had similar views to the op.

I didn't see the cassini division, but the outer 1/3 of the rings looked dimmer than the inner 2/3.

This was a short session with no time to acclimatise the scope and not much time to really look. I thought seeing was good but i  tested that at higher altitude. light pollution was quite bad and saturn isn't very high even at its highest at the moment which didn't help.

My collimation was straight, it's worth a check but I doubt you will be out of collimation with a maksutov.

P.s. I hope to swap my 127 for a 180 at some point, as I really like the maksutov as a design, but if I could afford it  I would consider a posh refractor!

Ditto! I think my next scope will be a bigger mak (prob a few years away) but what is it about those little refractors? They're small, they have small apertures, they're unbelievably expensive, but dammit I want one!!!!

[BGazing]

On 2017-6-24 at 20:17, Stu said:

Sounds like a good frac, which one is it?

Not done much on Saturn this apparition but have struggled to see it with the Tak. Not like when it was at much higher altitudes 10 to 15 years ago, that was wonderful.

The one in the signature, Borg 71 FL. 

[Stu]

19 minutes ago, BGazing said:

The one in the signature, Borg 71 FL. 

Can't see sigs on my phone. Nice scope  

[BGazing]

Its only an occassional  glimpse at ansae on a good night...it will disappear once they are not so excentric. .