Where have Saturn's moons gone?

[MikeOram]

Hi,

Simple question - I saw several of Saturns moon's a few days ago (Titan=bright, Iapetus=faint, Rhea=faint, Tethys/Dione with averted gaze).

Last night - which I thought was good seeing for the globular clusters M3, M13, M67 and M92 - I could only see Titan (bright) & Iapetus (clear).

I looked on Stellarium and, although Rhea was in front of Saturn, the others (Tethys & Dione) where at the side and, as Iapetus was clearly visible, I was expectign to be able to see them (according to Stellarium they are considerably brighter)

So who stole them ?

[Kef9]

I was looking last night and could only see 2 also at 69x mag.

Need more high power eyepieces to see more.

[MikeOram]

I'm only in my first month of viewing, but my confusion is that I could see 4 moons a few nights ago up to X200 (better/brighter at X100). two nights ago I could only see Iapetus & Titan yet the viewing for DSO's was the best I have experienced. As Iapetus is relatively dull (according to Stellarium), I was expecting to be able to see the moons that I had seen before.

[geoff_k]

I have had some good views of them this time around with the rings not being in the way so to speak.

Even so, there are times when Titan is the best you can hope for.

When you consider that even though Titan is a big lad it is only mag 8 and the rest are much smaller and fainter. I managed to grab this image about four years ago but I have never seen more than four or five visually and then they tend to pop in and out of view unless you use very high magnification which has its downsides.

Geoff

[Sunset_Twilight]

Thought you might like this:) The Magical Mystery Tour

[MikeOram]

Thanks Sunset_Twilight: Beautiful images and a very interesting read. Now, how can I stow away on one of those probes...