The elusive Saturn

[Space Oddity6]

So as you may have read in Benjy85pb's thread earlier, I set out tonight with one goal: to view Saturn. I tried to view it a few days earlier with poor results and so downloaded Stellarium for tonight to help me locate it and ensure it was Saturn I was looking at. I started with a 25mm eyepiece at around 11.30pm and picked it up as a very distant and tiny dot, so used a Barlow to magnify it which didn't really help, I still couldn't see the rings or anything distinguishable.

I then tried to switch to a 10mm EP, but lost it totally and couldn't find it again. I'm fairly sure it was Saturn I was looking at, for those in the UK it was to the right of and slightly higher than the Moon.

I guess my question is shouldn't my scope be able to give me better images of Saturn than a tiny dot? Reading Benjy85pb's previous thread where people were talking about their first time viewings of Saturn as something really special and for me to then go out an get an indistinguishable image was disheartening.

P.S. On the up side I learned about a few stars, saw Altair and after a few minutes of staring at some other stars finally realised it was the big dipper!

[kidlands]

I managed to catch a glimpse of it tonight before it sank below some trees ,used a 17mm EP no problem seeing it and 1 moon. It will look small but you should still be able to distinguish it as saturn and the rings side on. I think you just had the wrong target.

Caught the UARS satellite going over too thanks to stellerium.

What scope have you got?

steve

[Holliday]

I'm not sure what scope you have but I assume it has a finder. If so, making sure it's perfectly aligned makes things so much easier to locate things, and re-locate things if you accidentally lose them.

My first time (and only time since it was on Saturday) seeing Saturn was about 10:00-30pm I think, with only the Moon, Venus, and Saturn being visible to the naked eye, spotting them wasn't too difficult.

Again, not sure on which scope you have, but with my 8" Dob and the 25mm EP I got with it, I could easily make out Saturn and it's rings, it was quite tiny though, but still easily discernible.

So my only tip would be to align your finder scope well, and don't rush when changing EP's.

Good luck finding it again

[John]

So as you may have read in Benjy85pb's thread earlier, I set out tonight with one goal: to view Saturn. I tried to view it a few days earlier with poor results and so downloaded Stellarium for tonight to help me locate it and ensure it was Saturn I was looking at. I started with a 25mm eyepiece at around 11.30pm and picked it up as a very distant and tiny dot, so used a Barlow to magnify it which didn't really help, I still couldn't see the rings or anything distinguishable.

I then tried to switch to a 10mm EP, but lost it totally and couldn't find it again. I'm fairly sure it was Saturn I was looking at, for those in the UK it was to the right of and slightly higher than the Moon.

I guess my question is shouldn't my scope be able to give me better images of Saturn than a tiny dot? Reading Benjy85pb's previous thread where people were talking about their first time viewings of Saturn as something really special and for me to then go out an get an indistinguishable image was disheartening.

P.S. On the up side I learned about a few stars, saw Altair and after a few minutes of staring at some other stars finally realised it was the big dipper!

You don't say what scope you are using but you ought to see more than a tiny dot - I can just make out the rings with my 15x70 binoculars when they are on a tripod.

I strongly suspect that what you were looking at was a star rather than Saturn - there really is no mistaking it, even at low power.

[cloud9]

I didnt catch Saturn or Mars tonight , but i did see a wonderful Venus in the West just as it was sliding out of view.

[msinclairinork]

I have always found Saturn very easily in the night sky. I remember my first time out with a scope and not knowing very much about the night sky i started pointing my scope at very bright looking stars that were around the ecliptic line and to my surprise thier it was an awe inspiring veiw of saturn showing all its glory and that was with a toy telescope. of course that was me hooked then I also found Mars and Jupiter that way too. It was just guess work really. But they are so bright in comparison to other stars most of the time that they really are hard to miss (once you have found them once) And you will!

Go for it next time, Just point and shoot at those really bright stars and you will find it. It sounds a bit daft but it works for me everytime. Even now, that i know a bit more about the night sky, i can still find most of the planets just by pointing at what i believe it to be and nine out of ten times its a big plannet!

Trust me mate once you found them once youl be able to find them again in seconds. Keep at it you'l get that jaw dropping veiw soon enough!

Best of luck.

Michael.

[Space Oddity6]

Oh sorry guys my scope is a Skywatcher Explorer 130.

My finderscope is a red dot thingy (not sure of the technical name) that you aim to literally align it so it's over the planet/star you want to view.

A few people have suggested previously that what I was viewing was Arcturus, but that was much further up in the sky and much brighter than Saturn, well above the Moon tonight. Perhaps I'll try earlier tomorrow night when, as Holliday suggested, there are fewer objects in the sky to be mistaken with. Alternatively I may try and stay up to view Jupiter, then I'll know if it's my scope or me that's not working properly lol.

[DobbyX]

Majority of exams finished a few days ago, so with lots of free time I gave Saturn an attempt for the first time this night.

Somewhat turbulent air, but even at the lowest power, 60x, the rings and disc are unmistakeable. I also saw Titan as a bright dot at about 10 disc widths away at medium power. Fantastic to see for the first time.

[cootuk]

Maybe you could try a couple of the brighter targets where you think it should be, one of them HAS to be right.

[Moonshane]

maybe it was Mars you saw? That would pretty much be a dot with no features as it's on it's way away from us and really very small now. In which case, come left a bit and a little higher and the yellowish star is Saturn:)

[Space Oddity6]

Found it!! Went back out tonight, tried to view it early on but couldn't get it at all so I decided to get some practise using my counter-weight to view Arcturus which was absolutely beautiful. Was about to go in but decided to give Saturn one more try. Got what I thought was Saturn in my red dot viewfinder, looked in the EP to see a big blob of light. Focussed it up and there it was, a fantastic bronzy coloured disc in the sky with the rings edge on. I'm pretty sure I got one of the moons as well, maybe Titan, a very faint dot to the left of my new favourite planet.

The best night with my scope so far...

[LukeSkywatcher]

Forget Saturn for now....................it is Joop season.

[Space Oddity6]

What time is rising this week? I checked Stellarium yesterday and I think that said it would be visible about 1.30am but I couldn't see it with the naked eye last night.

Do you know when its earliest rising time will be?

[John]

What time is rising this week? I checked Stellarium yesterday and I think that said it would be visible about 1.30am but I couldn't see it with the naked eye last night.

Do you know when its earliest rising time will be?

I was up at 3:00 am this morning and Jupiter was well above the horizon and the brightest thing in the sky - you can't miss it

Manager to grab 10 mins with my 4" refractor and say "hello" to the giant planet and the four Galilean moons. The northern equatorial belt was really dark and well defined but the SEB seems to be a very pale shadow of it's former self. Nice to see Jupiter again and nice to view a planet where moderate magnification delivers a decent sized planetary disk in the FoV

Can't wait to get my larger scopes on it

[Michael Rapley]

Not a chance i'm afraid.... My new dob arrived today so cloud cover will be the order of the week i'm sad to say

[Ags]

Glad you found Saturn. I think you should definitely be able to see Titan as well - it is very faint in my telescope, but when I saw it last month I checked against the diagram in an astronomy magazine and the little dot was in the right position for Titan! You'll have to hurry with Saturn dissapearing into the twilight...

[Space Oddity6]

Glad you found Saturn. I think you should definitely be able to see Titan as well - it is very faint in my telescope, but when I saw it last month I checked against the diagram in an astronomy magazine and the little dot was in the right position for Titan! You'll have to hurry with Saturn dissapearing into the twilight...

Thanks, I was so happy when I found it after about 3 nights of fruitless searching. I think I did see Titan, about half a centimetre to the left of Saturn, and very faint.

My next goal is to get Jupiter, I saw it last night with the naked eye at about 2am but didn't have my scope with me but at least I know where it is and when.

[Ags]

I am going to try catch Jupiter early this morning - it's early to bed for me!

Have you had a look at Venus - I've been watching its phase change slowly over the past month or so.

[Space Oddity6]

Yes seen Venus a few times but I find it difficult to catch any surface detail because it's so bright. I wonder if investing in a filter would be worthwhile.

Good luck catching Jupiter, I'm going for an earlier night tonight, been outside late for the past few nights and tired from the excitement from the England game. Will try and catch it tomorrow morning though!

[munchkjn]

You won't see any surface detail of Venus as it is alledgedly cloaked in a thick cloudy atmosphere. The phase change is possibly the only thing of interest in a telesope. It is probably more interesting as a naked eye object, it is a thing of beauty especially in the early evening sky.

[Nermal]

When will saturn start becoming higher in the sky again ? Noticed that in the last month it's got very low to the horizon