Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

Mewlon, Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon


MalcolmM

Recommended Posts

Last time I was out I had two scopes dual mounted, two pairs of Binoviewers and countless eyepieces and was swapping between the scopes, swapping between the Binoviewers and swapping between mono and bino! Madness! And when my partner got up the following morning I suffered a constant stream of sarcasm as she deftly stepped over and around the astronomical debris scattered around the house!

So last night I thought I'd just try the WO Binoviewers in the Mewlon.

I plonked the iOptron Az Mount Pro down, no levelling. I find it tracks pretty good without doing this and I never use the goto, so very rarely bother to level it properly.

First up was Saturn and I was using the stock WO 20mm eyepieces. Too much! It looked much more than the 180x or so I was expecting. Saturn was huge, but a bit fuzzy. Swapped the 20mm for a pair of Tak 28mm Erfles and so started another evening of firsts and wow moments!

The last time I used the WO Binoviewers I had to resort to mono. I simply couldn't merge the images. No amount of fiddling worked. Last night they merged straight off. And what a view! Seeing was very steady but I thought there was a slight haze. A dark band was very evident to the north, Cassini division very obvious at the edges and possibly the whole way round. It's very difficult to say as the rings cross the disk, but the view looked more complex than just the usual shadow of the rings on the disk. I think I saw three moons. Need to check this. They were strung out pretty well in line out to the east (telescope view). This was a first; I've seen two before but never three.

I was mesmerised and must have spent 45 minutes just soaking up the view. I even persuaded my partner to get out of bed, put on a dressing gown and come take a look! Even she was mesmerised, for about 10 seconds :) But she also saw the Cassini division and said it (Saturn) looked like a space ship. I think she meant to say it looks like you're in a space ship!

Then on to Jupiter. I had to move the scope which involves taking it off the mount and moving scope and mount separately. No levelling and alignment was simply doing my best to put the tripod in the same orientation (mount was left running while I moved it). Once again this was good enough for decent tracking.

Huge amount of detail, especially in the SEB, hard to describe. The GRS was a very definite orange (I've never seen it so obviously coloured before, another first). A dark swirl above and to the left of it. Two white spots following as it moved across the disk. Lots of what looked like bands within the SEB. Other bands visible which I don't know the names of yet. The NEB was very dark with one extra dark bit in it just west of center. A bumpy look to the NEB but no real detail inside it.

Finally a quick look at the moon. Some stunning detail on the limb beyond the Mare Crisium. The Mewlon/WO Binoviewers combination really did give the feeling of hovering over the moon in a space ship! It's a great combination (when I can merge the images!)

All in all a great session and I feel that the Mewlon will be able to offer more. The sky was slightly hazy, Jupiter and Saturn were both no more than 20° above the horizon as well as being directly over neighboring roofs. Can't wait!

I'm including my attempts at sketching. More for a laugh as apart from being very poor, they don't begin to convey the detail actually seen.

Malcolm 

16628827507467369633675110146831.thumb.jpg.0a0b99ce07a3487a9e33cf89cdd73897.jpg

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Super report Malcolm. I "think" the moons of Saturn you would have seen would be Titan - farthest out to the east, Rhea next moon in after Titan, then either Dione or Calypso. I myself think i saw Dione based on arc minutes between it and Rhea and between it and Saturn but it was close so there is a possibility of a mistake on my part there. Your sketch also looks like Dione. Great night for Saturn wasn't it!

Edited by josefk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, MalcolmM said:

Last time I was out I had two scopes dual mounted, two pairs of Binoviewers and countless eyepieces and was swapping between the scopes, swapping between the Binoviewers and swapping between mono and bino! Madness! And when my partner got up the following morning I suffered a constant stream of sarcasm as she deftly stepped over and around the astronomical debris scattered around the house!

So last night I thought I'd just try the WO Binoviewers in the Mewlon.

I plonked the iOptron Az Mount Pro down, no levelling. I find it tracks pretty good without doing this and I never use the goto, so very rarely bother to level it properly.

First up was Saturn and I was using the stock WO 20mm eyepieces. Too much! It looked much more than the 180x or so I was expecting. Saturn was huge, but a bit fuzzy. Swapped the 20mm for a pair of Tak 28mm Erfles and so started another evening of firsts and wow moments!

The last time I used the WO Binoviewers I had to resort to mono. I simply couldn't merge the images. No amount of fiddling worked. Last night they merged straight off. And what a view! Seeing was very steady but I thought there was a slight haze. A dark band was very evident to the north, Cassini division very obvious at the edges and possibly the whole way round. It's very difficult to say as the rings cross the disk, but the view looked more complex than just the usual shadow of the rings on the disk. I think I saw three moons. Need to check this. They were strung out pretty well in line out to the east (telescope view). This was a first; I've seen two before but never three.

I was mesmerised and must have spent 45 minutes just soaking up the view. I even persuaded my partner to get out of bed, put on a dressing gown and come take a look! Even she was mesmerised, for about 10 seconds :) But she also saw the Cassini division and said it (Saturn) looked like a space ship. I think she meant to say it looks like you're in a space ship!

Then on to Jupiter. I had to move the scope which involves taking it off the mount and moving scope and mount separately. No levelling and alignment was simply doing my best to put the tripod in the same orientation (mount was left running while I moved it). Once again this was good enough for decent tracking.

Huge amount of detail, especially in the SEB, hard to describe. The GRS was a very definite orange (I've never seen it so obviously coloured before, another first). A dark swirl above and to the left of it. Two white spots following as it moved across the disk. Lots of what looked like bands within the SEB. Other bands visible which I don't know the names of yet. The NEB was very dark with one extra dark bit in it just west of center. A bumpy look to the NEB but no real detail inside it.

Finally a quick look at the moon. Some stunning detail on the limb beyond the Mare Crisium. The Mewlon/WO Binoviewers combination really did give the feeling of hovering over the moon in a space ship! It's a great combination (when I can merge the images!)

All in all a great session and I feel that the Mewlon will be able to offer more. The sky was slightly hazy, Jupiter and Saturn were both no more than 20° above the horizon as well as being directly over neighboring roofs. Can't wait!

I'm including my attempts at sketching. More for a laugh as apart from being very poor, they don't begin to convey the detail actually seen.

Malcolm 

16628827507467369633675110146831.thumb.jpg.0a0b99ce07a3487a9e33cf89cdd73897.jpg

Lovely report, I had the 200P & 76DC out last night. Saturn looked beautiful and matched your description. The moons from furthest out to closest were Titan, Rhea and Dione. I could just make out Tethys too in the dob which was sat just below the planetary disc. I much preferred the contrast of the small Tak and 4mm TOE, just such a pure view despite the smaller image.

I found Jupiter’s views a little less impressive than usual, I hit the dew point and was suffering lots of red and blue fringing even with its relatively high altitude. The brightness of the moon also seemed to have a bleaching effect. One thing that stood out though was how small the GRS appeared! Annoyed that I‘d just missed the exit of Io’s occultation too.
 

 

 

Edited by IB20
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

Thank you for writing this - I loved your descriptions! The sketch of Jupiter in particular makes me imagine how much detail you must have seen. Fantastic!

Thanks! I get very frustrated not being able to sketch better. It's nice to have some record of the session though :)

Malcolm 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, IB20 said:

Lovely report, I had the 200P & 76DC out last night. Saturn looked beautiful and matched your description. The moons from furthest out to closest were Titan, Rhea and Dione. I could just make out Tethys too in the dob which was sat just below the planetary disc. I much preferred the contrast of the small Tak and 4mm TOE, just such a pure view despite the smaller image.

I found Jupiter’s views a little less impressive than usual, I hit the dew point and was suffering lots of red and blue fringing even with its relatively high altitude. The brightness of the moon also seemed to have a bleaching effect. One thing that stood out though was how small the GRS appeared! Annoyed that I‘d just missed the exit of Io’s occultation too.
 

 

 

It's hard to beat the combination of a small Tak and a TOE :)

Malcolm 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.