Strange Saturn - 3rd May 2010

[dweller25]

Did anyone observe Saturn around 10PM (21:00UT) on the 3rd May ??

Seeing was variable but in moments of good seeing there was a hint of a lot of irregularity in the Northern hemisphere. The North Polar region appeared to have a large bright region too.

Maybe it was my imagination as it was very subtle ??

PS - I had not had any wine !

[russ]

Myself and my son Harry were looking at Saturn tonight. But our seeing was so poor, right down the scale. We were struggling to get any sort of decent view at any power. Hopefully someone else can confirm your sighting.

[DarkerSky]

Im out at the mo with my 12" trying to get Mars. Will swing over to Saturn soon and take a look

[dweller25]

Seb, I had a look at Mars too with the 8". Managed to only see the NPC and hood and some central dark albedo features. South pole has a definite dimming but no detail. Will post a drawing tomorrow but it's definitely my last for Mars.

[Phil Fargaze]

I had a quick look at Saturn at 10:15pm BST tonight (3rd) through my 6" reflector. The seeing had a few wobbles but I thought it was a pretty good view. I noticed a north equatorial marking just below the rings but I did not notice anything else out of the ordinary.

[Daniel-K]

ive been traking saturn all night nothing outta the norm really although the other night a satallite did pass through was pritty cool to see

[DarkerSky]

Got round to Saturn at about midnight. Seeing not so good. About a III. At x265 magnification in my 12" I could see the NEB was if anything more defined into a band than I have seen recently, with ill-defined lighter shading to its north. It was more noticeable than the SEB tonight. Didnt make out anything other than fairly homogenous shading in the north polar region, but what you saw Dweller would have rotated off the disc I think by the time I was looking. My eyes were also getting tired !!

[Earl]

I also saw that sat go past tonight around 10.50 ish.. cheeky [removed word] it distracted me LOL!

I was able to make out subtle banding... maybe

I tried some prime focus shots, but the result were dire.

[Stu]

Hi,

This isn't related to what you saw is it? Sounds similar...

'Snowmageddon' on Saturn snapped by amateur stargazers • The Register

[Stu]

Let me know if that link didn;t work, it seems to for me but not sure it will post ok

[dweller25]

Thanks for that Stu but it was the other hemisphere.

It's looking like I was dreaming as there are no other reports.

Sorry for the false alarm and clear skies to all.

[DarkerSky]

Grabbed the briefest of views of Saturn this evening in my 16" before the thicker cloud spread over. Seeing was surprisingly good - and there did seem to be some darker splodges in the northern hemisphere in / near the NEB. Could not confirm exact positions as I only really had about 3 minutes at the EP (quite literally) before I got clouded out!! Not sure if it would be the same CM as you saw the other night Dweller, but definately hints of something different seen.

[dweller25]

Seb, a guy on CN showed me a drawing of exactly the same thing I saw and he said it's the eyes playing tricks.

I was using the 8" so if you could not see it for certain in the 16" then maybe I was fooled into thinking there was something there.

Clear skies.