Saturn

[Craig solomon]

As a relative newbie to this , the sheer joy of seeing saturn last night was a great thrill , however small it looked

[Stu]

Just now, Craig solomon said:

As a relative newbie to this , the sheer joy of seeing saturn last night was a great thrill , however small it looked

Amazing isn’t it! Planets always look fairly small in the eyepiece but better to have a smaller sharper view than over magnify it.

[skyhog]

You never forget your first saturn.... 😉

[PeterStudz]

I first saw Saturn in a small and cheerful Prinz Astral 60 (I think) as a equally small and cheerful boy back in 1970-something. It was so small that  I could only just make out the rings but I still remember it well. Apart from looking at the moon it’s the only thing that I can remember viewing.

Sadly my mother gave that telescope to a charity shop after I went to university 🙁

[Guest]

Saturn has recently just returned to our night skies.  The wife is very glad the gas giants are coming back to us 

[ED Splitter]

Yes Saturn is glorious. You’re bitten now, say goodbye to any idea of savings. 
wait till you see your first nebula! 

[maw lod qan]

Saturn and those rings are what got me!

Welcome to the club!

[dark knight]

Saturn was the first real wow factor for me too in 2008 and  I've been here ever since !

[Sunshine]

Saturn is the crown jewel of our system, seeing it for the first time is special.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Sunshine

[Guest]

Saturn is usually what we end the night on.  My wife gets home around 1130pm from work and i have been going at it since 10pm.  She says it's a beautiful way to end her night, she wouldnt be wrong 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Mike Q

[Zeta Reticulan]

Did anyone catch the opposition? I saw it for about an hour right up until transit with my 127mm Mak'. It had been cooling for over two hours beforehand.

I could see Rhea and Titan, highest magnification was 171x. The rings were quite bright, possible Seeliger Effect. 

[Guest]

We were 100 percent clouds last night.  I didn't even bother to try

[Froglord]

Saw my first Saturn last night. It was within a few degrees of a very bright street light, so I didn't have much hope that I would get a decent view, but it was surprisingly good. Perhaps the dew shield on my Mak helped keep out the stray light.

Managed to spot Titan too, mostly with averted vision. Next stop: the Cassini division!

[bosun21]

Saturn is definitely an eye-catching planet alright, but I can clearly remember spending more time observing Jupiter. I don’t know whether it was the band’s, moons or the hunt for the GRS that teased me into spending more time at the eyepiece. I am still in the same camp today.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Saturn is definitely an eye-catching planet alright, but I can clearly remember spending more time observing Jupiter. I don’t know whether it was the band’s, moons or the hunt for the GRS that teased me into spending more time at the eyepiece. I am still in the same camp today.

I have the worst timing.  I have yet to see the red spot.  

[cajen2]

33 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

I have the worst timing.  I have yet to see the red spot.  

Prepare to be underwhelmed.....through most scopes, it's the Great Slightly Pinkish or Somewhat Brown Spot.😄 You have to use your imagination and remember how huge it is to be visible from so far away.

[Zeta Reticulan]

3 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Prepare to be underwhelmed.....through most scopes, it's the Great Slightly Pinkish or Somewhat Brown Spot.😄 You have to use your imagination and remember how huge it is to be visible from so far away.

Use a BBHS prism and it really does look red.

[cajen2]

2 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

Use a BBHS prism and it really does look red.

...which costs more than many people's scopes! 😄😄😄

I'm sure it's fantastic but maybe not in my dob....

[Zeta Reticulan]

Just now, cajen2 said:

...which costs more than many people's scopes! 😄😄😄

I'm sure it's fantastic but maybe not in my dob....

I used to use a 1.25" Baader BBHS Amici a lot, except I didn't know it was BBHS as Baader were initially reluctant to claim they were silver coated, possibly as silver at one time had a reputation for tarnishing. I couldn't understand why the GRS was so 'red'. Now I do lol.

[Marvin Jenkins]

39 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Prepare to be underwhelmed.....through most scopes, it's the Great Slightly Pinkish or Somewhat Brown Spot.😄 You have to use your imagination and remember how huge it is to be visible from so far away.

Imagination and memory are a key to this crazy game. 
I walked out the other night and within five seconds said “oh look Andromeda galaxy” no dark adaptation at all.

Now I admit I have some quite dark skies and I could see it, but only down to the fact that I know where I am looking and what I am looking for.

My Astro diary read differently at the beginning. I found M33 two whole weeks before stumbling across M31 by accident.

I used that very same beginner 5 inch newt on Saturn a few nights back and it blew me away. I get the bit about the GRS being a challenge, but we have been rather spoiled by HST and flyby pictures.

Just as a footnote I thought I would mention an entry in my diary about observing Jupiter last time it was around at night. 
This time with a six inch newt, but I noticed due to incredible stillness that there was something extra going on with one of the equatorial bands.

#john who I have not seen for sometime posted up a report of a Barge, which is something I had never heard of before. 
So if you think you see something, you might actually be seeing something.

Marv