Saturn observation 27th December 2008

[mike bacanin]

I managed a sketch of saturn this morning sat 27th december before the corrector succumbed to the very cold air.

time was 05.53 till 06.05 am

clear cold conditions

seeing 2 - 2.5/5 most of the time 2

Tak Tsc 225 sct

zeiss orthos x168 and x216

north at top with diagonal

mike

[russ]

Nice drawing Mike, especially considering the less than favourable conditions. I had a look this morning but the air was so unsteady i gave up.

Russ

[dweller25]

Nice one Mike - will you be using the Tak to take some planetary photos ?? - sure would like to see some.

[Doc]

Thats a great sketch really shows the tilt or shouls I say flatness of the rings.

[Brinders]

Excellent sketch, similar to what I saw through the eyepiece and despite being a clear night, I have to agree, the air was very unsteady. Tried imaging with my Neximage CCD but couldn't get a decent image on screen with any detail and besides the air was "boiling" and the image moving about too much to get anything workable, so settled with observing with nothing more powerful then my TAL 7.5 plossol. Maybe I should try sketching.

[mike bacanin]

Thanks for the kind comments, i appreciate them.

I'm not an imager, i've drawn at the eyepiece since i was 13, but i'll keep the sketches coming whenever i get chance!

I went back to the original and darkened the background to improve the overall effect, here's the result.

Mike

[scotastro]

Lovely sktech showed much of what I saw this morning.

I was up an hour later and dragged out the Skywatcher 127 Mak. First view on the narrow rings. I was surprised how well they stood out as did the dark shadow across the disc.

Mike