Just seen Saturn

[Neiman]

Blown away. Struggles to star align my scope once the night filled up with stars so had a go at Saturn instead. Turned a frustrating night into an absolute awesome Night. What a sight ! ! 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

There's no turning back now. You're hooked! 😉

[Ruud]

Aw, sweet!

It's a sight that really touches a person, isn't it? Show it to everyone you know. They'll be amazed and at least a few, if not all, will ask you if it's real.

Saturn will be better placed in the sky year after year for at least a dozen years to come. Ever higher in the sky, showing more detail at each opposition, till on a good night five moons can be spotted even in a small telescope.

About the goto alignment: check your manual, you may find there's something like solar system alignment.

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Ruud

[Neiman]

1 hour ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

There's no turning back now. You're hooked! 😉

You know don’t you . . . . Lol

[cletrac1922]

4 hours ago, Neiman said:

Blown away. Struggles to star align my scope once the night filled up with stars so had a go at Saturn instead. Turned a frustrating night into an absolute awesome Night. What a sight ! ! 

 

Nieman

In what way did you have issues doing star aliment, and what sort of mount you using

Most important thing is that you set your GPS location correctly, along with date and time

I do not bother with daylight saving, as local issue, and the planets have been appearing same time, same place for millions of years

John

[Neiman]

4 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

 

Nieman

In what way did you have issues doing star aliment, and what sort of mount you using

Most important thing is that you set your GPS location correctly, along with date and time

I do not bother with daylight saving, as local issue, and the planets have been appearing same time, same place for millions of years

John

Hiya John, first time using the scope. I struggled to get the finder scope and the telescope aligned on the same thing ( think I managed it ( didn’t have a quarter mile object to match up ) as my garden is pretty much enclosed. Did the polar alignment ( I think ) and then ate allignment. Found the first star - but then struggled to find the 2nd as the by that time the sky had filled with stars and it all looked a bit samey out of the eyepiece.

 

[Paul M]

I share a young lady's first view of Saturn last night too. Little Celestron 127 SLT. I'm not new to GOTO but this SLT mount is a bit awkward in some ways. Couldn't be bothered doing star alignment so used the Solar System Align routine. Just leveled the thing roughly and centered Jupiter in the eyepiece and clicked "align". Single object align, good enough to Keep Jupiter in the eyepiece for the duration, even at higher mag. 

Then later selected Saturn and it slewed over to Saturn and it was near enough! Just a bit of tweaking required.

Sometimes is nice to not get too bogged down. Luckily on this occasion it paid off nicely. 

 

[Plumb71]

I am exactly the same, had my scope for 4 weeks now and it does get better, i have a manual mount so i just star hope, get yourself a sky atlas and pick a constellation and just use the fine adjustments, this is what i do and have found a few nebulas and clusters.

It is disheartening at first, but with the invaluable advice i had from on here it will get better

[Greengrassmanfl]

 I just spotted it for the first time with a small telescope a few days ago, and was amazed at what I was seeing. It was like confirmation of something instead of taking the word of others! 

[PlanetGazer]

12 hours ago, Neiman said:

Hiya John, first time using the scope. I struggled to get the finder scope and the telescope aligned on the same thing ( think I managed it ( didn’t have a quarter mile object to match up ) as my garden is pretty much enclosed. Did the polar alignment ( I think ) and then ate allignment. Found the first star - but then struggled to find the 2nd as the by that time the sky had filled with stars and it all looked a bit samey out of the eyepiece.

 

Try aligning the finder with the scope during day.

For GoTo alignment, maybe planispehre or astronomy map will help you navigate the stars that you need to align to. Also, I recently found out that the GoTo have an option of turning of the star filter, so you can pick stars, in-case your observing site is restricted. Otherwise try to use the filter as it recommends stars for optimum alignment.

 

And yes Saturn is stunning, try Jupiter and its 4 moons

[Neiman]

29 minutes ago, PlanetGazer said:

Try aligning the finder with the scope during day.

For GoTo alignment, maybe planispehre or astronomy map will help you navigate the stars that you need to align to. Also, I recently found out that the GoTo have an option of turning of the star filter, so you can pick stars, in-case your observing site is restricted. Otherwise try to use the filter as it recommends stars for optimum alignment.

 

And yes Saturn is stunning, try Jupiter and its 4 moons

 

I’ve ordered a polar scope which I hope helps. I’ve got an app - think it’s called ‘planets’. This has really helped me navigate, but being totally new to this astronomy art, I struggled. It will get easier. I found Jupiter tonight and it was awesome. Just awesome.

thanks

neil

[PlanetGazer]

8 hours ago, Neiman said:

 

I’ve ordered a polar scope which I hope helps. I’ve got an app - think it’s called ‘planets’. This has really helped me navigate, but being totally new to this astronomy art, I struggled. It will get easier. I found Jupiter tonight and it was awesome. Just awesome.

thanks

neil

Personally I find either stellaruim or skysafari have the best features. Try skysafari free version, it will recommend best views for each night depending on your location.

May I ask what telescope you have/used?

[bingevader]

On 26/08/2019 at 09:27, Neiman said:

Hiya John, first time using the scope. I struggled to get the finder scope and the telescope aligned on the same thing ( think I managed it ( didn’t have a quarter mile object to match up ) as my garden is pretty much enclosed. 

If you could find Saturn through your 'scope, then use that to align the finderscope on as high a magnification as you can!  

[Neiman]

8 hours ago, PlanetGazer said:

Personally I find either stellaruim or skysafari have the best features. Try skysafari free version, it will recommend best views for each night depending on your location.

May I ask what telescope you have/used?

I have a celestron advanced vx

thanks

[Neiman]

2 hours ago, bingevader said:

If you could find Saturn through your 'scope, then use that to align the finderscope on as high a magnification as you can!  

That’s not a bad idea .  . . .  .

thanks

Neil

[KingNothing13]

Congrats - Saturn is a favorite and a crowd pleaser!

[Gfamily]

On 26/08/2019 at 00:37, Neiman said:

Blown away. Struggles to star align my scope once the night filled up with stars so had a go at Saturn instead. Turned a frustrating night into an absolute awesome Night. What a sight ! ! 

If George Lucas had put it in a film, you'd want to be in that solar system.

[Pete Presland]

Saturn certainly is one of the stand out objects in the sky, i never tire of seeing it. Congratulations on seeing for the first time!

[Space Hopper]

........and remember, Saturn is currently at its worst at the moment from a visual perspective for us Northern hemisphere bods.

A bit too low down in the south to reveal much in the way of detail.

But thing are starting to improve, and its slowly starting to climb out of the southern murk.

Jupiter 'will catch it up' next year as well and they'll make a distinctive pairing.

 

[Gfamily]

18 hours ago, Tubby Bear said:

........and remember, Saturn is currently at its worst at the moment from a visual perspective for us Northern hemisphere bods.

But on the other hand, the rings are very well presented.

Swings and roundabouts ...

[Starlight 1]

Not seen it in the last 4 years, allway in bed by 9pm But I had to set up a old scope today, So I going to try and stay up for one last look all I can rember it was not very big but very nice.

[Rob Sellent]

@Starlight 1really hope you you get to have one last night cap with Saturn before the season is over. I swear the other night I was observing some great magestic storm covering a little of the planet 🙂

[Sunshine]

There's no substitute for a first look at Saturn, the crown jewel of our solar system.

[Nigeyboy]

I managed to catch Saturn last night, while out trying (and failing!) to see the Neptune Phi Aquari conjunction. It was really low, just skirting the top of my hedge. But I got a good view of the rings and I think I saw Titan as well. Considering the angle of view it was still quite spectacular!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Saturn is always awesome, even after 40 years of observing. Have a go at Jupiter too, that is perhaps less "in your face awesome", but it is such a dynamic world, you never get enough of it, I find