Saturn 6th of June 2010

[maximR]

Telescope: Skywatcher 70mm Alt-az mount

Eyepiece used: 10mm + 2X Barlow

Time: Around 8.30 PM to 9.40 PM

Comments : First ever documentation of my observation. Trying to keep in mind that I'm still a beginner, I'm not going to force myself to find any galaxies or nebulae, instead I searched for Saturn and located it easily. Started with a low power eyepiece, 25 mm, I could see the rings. Remembering that I'm using cheap eyepieces that came with the scope, I changed to a 10mm eyepiece. Saturn was sharp, just like a drawing. Rings could be seen easily. I can even see the shadows cast by the rings on the surface of it.

After that, added a junk barlow, Saturn was a bit dimmer but I could still make out the details on it. Not too bad I guess, the sharpness was incredible, it was only reduced by 1.2 % ? Tried hard to find more detail, and suddenly I found the shadow of Saturn on the right side of the ring, it was hard to see but I could identify the dark area on the ring.

Below is a sketch I did using Photoshop CS3, straightaway after putting back my scope. Tried to remember the details and here is what I got:

Then the clouds came and blocked it, after that seeing wasn't good and I decided to stop.

Clear skies,

Maxis

[Totnesdave]

Saturn is always a thrill to see isn't it

I was out last night too at about 11pm during a lessening of the clouds, in my back garden so skies not very dark but enough so to also identify Titan, Rhea and on the edge of vision, Tethys. Pushed as far as 150x mag.

If you haven't already, your scope will be able to see the moon Titan with ease as a 'star' in line with the rings (about 4 ring diameters out last night) and it's rewarding to track its motion around the planet from night to night, especially when you're making proper drawings as you are ... I never thought of using Photoshop, great idea

Here's a cool little online utility for seeing the moon positions: WWU Planetarium - Saturn's Moons though planetarium software such as Stellarium also shows this in more detail.

Dave.

[LukeSkywatcher]

That is pretty much how i remember seeing Saturn with my 90EQ scope...........colour and size is about right. The rings were more open back in 2006/2007 though.

I tried Saturn again earlier this year with my 130P and it didnt even come close to that.

[dweller25]

Nice report Maxis, you have seen most of what there is to see on Saturn at the moment, even with larger telescopes.

Next time try looking for differences in brightness between the two hemispheres.

Saturn is much more impressive when the rings are more open.

Keep the drawings coming

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice drawing, quite close to my shots with a webcam. At higher magnification you might spot a bit more banding, but Saturn's banding is very subtle compared to Jupiter.