August 2, 2017: Solar system session in Indiana

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I was visiting friends here in Indiana, and brought a telescope over (my 80mm F/6 APM triplet) to their house for some pre-BBQ solar imaging and viewing, and some post BBQ lunar observing and imaging. The friends were duly impressed by the nice sunspot before the meal, but the craters on the moon really wowed them (as they tend to do). Using the 7.5-22.5 WO zoom at the shortest focal length, I could really frame the moon nicely, and show a great deal of detail. As the skies darkened, I noticed a stellar object below the moon, quickly decided it wasn't a star, pointed the scope at it, and immediately spotted it was Saturn. I upped magnification to 96x with the Vixen SLV 5mm, and still found it a bit small, so I decided to go to silly magnification, and popped in the 2.5x PowerMate and SLV 5mm, reaching 240x. As happens more often with Saturn, it held up, and the view really wowed the onlookers. The Cassini division was clearly visible, and the brighter equatorial region stood out well. This little 80mm APO triplet really punches above its weight. I briefly tried the same combo on the moon, but 240x was really too much. I changed over to the 7.5-22.5mm zoom at 7.5mm (160x) and that was a lot better, showing lovely detail in the rilles along the terminator.

This was a great little session, with Saturn an unexpected bonus, as it has been hiding behind trees for me in my garden (at just above 53 deg north). Here, just shy of 40 deg north it shows so much better

[Pig]

It sounds like you had a great all day session Michael, with friends, food and a great location ?Fabulous ?

[MarsG76]

Sounds like you had some good seeing too... just goes to show you, you don't need a giant monster of a telescope to get some wow views.

 

[Paz]

Nice report, it is always interesting fun getting to getting ooohs and wows from people who have never or not often looked through a scope.

[Piero]

Very nice report! Sometimes, pushing the magnification gives nice surprises!