Light no. 4 First dark site

[Debostar]

Friends, I had my first outdoor observation early this morning today...The highlight was of course Saturn...

This is a poor image of the 9mm EP view of saturn by my mobile phone camera....That's hardly astrophotography, but it is Saturn...

I woke up at 01:30 local time, and left the flat at around 02:00. Had to do 2 trips to my car to take all my gear plus a chair (which I didn't use for sitting)

Before going I was a bit sceptical as it was quite windy...I stopped at Mcdonalds and took a Big Mac chicken take aways meal and then made my way to my work site 40 kms to the northwest of Fujairah.

The final part of the route took me over some rough mountain road that I had to go very slowly lest any damage to my scope was caused by the car jerking. I had it wrapped in bubble paper and in a special cardboard box...I plan not to take my scope there too often due to this. Luckily there is no damage as I drove carefully.

To my dismay on the way there, I noticed some patchy stratus clouds that half-obscured the moon. By the time I reached to the top of the mountain it was patchy clouds and fast moving from east to west. There were also occasional wind gusts which were quite cold and the temperature was very low, only 13-14 C...

My frustration began with my poor alignment skills. Since the surface was gravelly the tripod was not level by the time I got to do my alignment. It always failed and it was difficult to select the three stars due to the pesky clouds...After 5-6 failed attempts, I finally discovered that the tripod was not level...It was dark so I had to use my powerpack red light to see it....Then after i corrected it by 0400, it was level and aligned...First, of course, on the line was Saturn although Venus just came up, red and sleepy....I inputed Saturn and the scope directed me to a SSW direction to a yellowy bright star that was streaky, like elongated. Focusing with my 25mm EP revealed a hint of the rings...I then put my 9mm EP in and focused and....there it was...Saturn with clearly defined rings, inclined at about 70 degrees to the horizontal. The planet was showing me its belly as the rings looped above. There was a hint of a black line in the rings and the whole thing looked like a small bean in my 9 mm EP (for this I ordered the barlow 2x)

My reaction to seeing Saturn for the first time, was disbelief. This can't be happening:eek:...It's like a cartoon drawing in the sky. Maybe somebody made a little drawing in the scope to play jokes with me. Yet it stayed there and the scope tracked it. Unbelievable...Even more unbelievable than Jupiter...And my emotion was that the planet is kind of smiling to me...Like it's enjoying it's place in the heavens and laughing at our non-importance...

After an hour or so, Venus was getting higher and brighter and I slewed to view her, she was a very bright disk...Slightly not full. Then I tried to see some Messier objects but failed due to the clouds covering everything...I managed to locate the butterfly constellation M6. Another funny thing. It's like looking at a child's bedroom stickers...Butterflies, Saturn etc...very surreal...At 06:00 I slewed back to Saturn and tracked him till it was around 06:45, quite daylight, but there he was albeit fainter...In the meantime ,I had the chance to check out my workers by naked eye as they started up their machinery at the quarry, surprisingly on time.

[John]

What an amazing location to view from !.

Makes my trip from the dining room to the patio seem very feeble

Glad you had a good view of Saturn - it's an impressive object

[mrmoo]

I think you did quite well considering its your first time.

[Astro Imp]

Hi,

I've been looking forward to this this and you didn't let me down.

That is a great report - well done

Glad you found Jupiter and Venus you obviously enjoyed youself.

What an amazing location, I observe from the flatlands of Lincolnshire so that is completely different.

You call 13 - 14C cold, I'll take that every night

Keep us all up to date on your observing.

Clear skies.