A Swan, some Summer sights And Saturn

[PeterStudz]

Southampton urban back garden, Bortle 7, Skywatcher 200p Dob. Sunday 09/06/24 - early hours. 

Well, that was one of the best nights I’ve had in months. Seeing for me wasn’t bad, certainly better than most nights during that long run of planetary that seemed to go on forever - from autumn into mid-winter. However, transparency was outstanding! Unfortunately my daughter was at a sleepover, so it was just me.

I didn’t get going until about 1pm after a couple hours sleep. Did a few of my favourites for this time of year, eg M29, M57, M27, Albireo. I could tell transparency was good, but M13 really showed this off - on M13 I could immediately see dozens of twinkling stars. It looked absolutely brilliant and the best that I’ve ever seen from my rather light polluted garden! Although I’ve only been observing it for a few yrs now it just goes to show that every night is different. Often, for me, whatever I try it’s just a smudge. Next M11 (wild duck cluster). Again, the best I’ve seen it from here. Looking a bit like a globular with so many stars. After that I decided to try something a little harder. Something I’d never seen from my house - M17 (swan nebula). For me it’s low and hovers around trees & branches. I thought I could see something with averted vision, or when moving the Dob a little, but far from certain. Then I tired a UHC filter… and there it was… clear and obvious too. Never seen a filter make so much difference. I was chuffed. With the filter still in I tired M8 which I’d never seen from here. Again, success! Lucky as this was playing hide and sneak with some trees. Didn’t look anywhere near as spectacular as when I saw it from a dark site but still excellent just to see it, although I could tell it was the same object. Next I had a go at M20. No luck there with/without filter but I’m not surprised. Out of interest, I would not have been able to find M17 & M8 without the rather useful smartphone PushTo feature in the app PS Align Pro. They are just too low and without enough stars around for a star hop.

By now it was about 2:40pm and I was thinking of packing in.  But having noticed Saturn coming up and past some trees I had to give it a go. Best at x240 towards the end of the night/day which isn’t bad given its low altitude. And those edge on rings look stunning. I could make out some shading on the disc, and a fine but obvious hard shadow directly under the ring. Could just make out a little thin gap between the planets and rings. Carried on with Saturn until 4:30am when it was obviously now light. Worth it as the view improved as it gained altitude. Took a quick & short iPhone video when it was rather too light from which the picture comes from. Rather raw, no editing (yet, too tired) apart from cropping and adjusting white balance on the phone, but illustrates what I saw, although seeing it at the eyepiece was far better! Saturn should be good this year and I’m looking forward to it, plus the other planets. Lovely hearing the summer dawn chorus again as well as the rising sun. Went to bed at just gone 5am for a few hours sleep - fabulous summers night! - mind, I’m sure it’ll now take the rest of the week to fully recover. 
 

[Space Hopper]

Nice report.

Theres a few 'Saturn events' to look forward to this year.

A lunar occultation in August, and 3 Titan shadow transits in November / December. All on my bucket list.

The rings don't go 'edge - on' till late March 2025, but i think Saturn will be too close to the sun to see it by then.

[PeterStudz]

54 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

Nice report.

Theres a few 'Saturn events' to look forward to this year.

A lunar occultation in August, and 3 Titan shadow transits in November / December. All on my bucket list.

The rings don't go 'edge - on' till late March 2025, but i think Saturn will be too close to the sun to see it by then.

Thanks for letting me know. Certainly something that’ll go into my dairy! Never see a shadow transit on Saturn, so it’s a must.

[Captain Scarlet]

Superb. I’m looking forward to seeing what Saturn looks like with rings so much closer to edge-on.

Magnus