Kevdan Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Hi All,After being outside having a decent night waiting for Saturn to raise abouve the LP of Birmingham to the left os my garden which luckily for me faces 2 degrees off south,And after waiting for hours for this ringed beauty, I saw nothing, I get it aligned in the finderscope then slowly change eyepieces from 26mm to 9mm then to 9mm with 2x barlow, and Saturn just looks like a bright star, certainly no rings, It is definately saturn as I had stellarium on the laptop outside with me and I know it is the brighter and bigger than Spica.Scope is a 150p skywatcher 750mm long so I should have had 166x mag when eventually getting to the 9mm with barlow. Surely this should have been enough to see at least the outline of the planet and rings.Kev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 As you said you used a barlow, I think thats too strong. Try viewing it without the barlow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayBig Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 166x magnification would definitely show you the rings.Were you definitely looking at the right object - are you sure your finderscope is correctly aligned?did it look like a sharply focussed star (definitely the wrong object) or a fuzzy blob (possibly fogged eyepieces or collimation out)?Good idea to use tellurium to help,it's a great piece of software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 It may not have been Saturn - it's so distinctive even at 30x, you can't mistake it for anything else. I've just been viewing it with my 4" refractor - no mistaking it whatsoever - rings plus 4 moons plus an equatorial cloud belt. This was at 155x but the rings are clearly defined at much lower powers.Double check what you were looking at - when you find it, you will know ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonp Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Definatley not Saturn. Even in 10x50's you can see its not a star. My scope really starts to show it nice even at 30x ( 32mm ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeSkywatcher Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 With my 90mm scope and a 9mm EP (no barlow) there is no mistaking Saturn. It is what it is.Even with my 130P scope and a 9mm EP there is no mistaking it. When you find it.......you will know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junior Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 The best way to know what your looking at with out a scope or binos that i have found is to look at the star/planet, if it is flickering then it is a start if it is a steady point of light then it is a planet. However im sure someone will correct me on that as i have probably just made that up from looking at saturn tonight which was an amazing view at only 65x through my scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tms48 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 With my 130p and standard issue 10mm lens (65x) I have no trouble making out the rings, even through the high light pollution we have in tyneside, if the object was in focus it seems like it was a star rather than Saturn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeSkywatcher Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 The best way to know what your looking at with out a scope or binos that i have found is to look at the star/planet, if it is flickering then it is a start if it is a steady point of light then it is a planet. However im sure someone will correct me on that as i have probably just made that up from looking at saturn tonight which was an amazing view at only 65x through my scope.You are bang on the buck. Stars "twinkle"...........planets dont. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Did you find Saturn yet KevDan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manok101 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Saturn is very distinctive even in my 28mm 2" Deepview eyepiece. It looks like a tiny dot, with other even smaller dots, but even then I can make out the rings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brantuk Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 You will kmow when you see saturn - cos you'll be dancing round the garden like a madman lol. My guess is that your aim was out - make sure the finder and ota are well aligned on a distant object a mile or two away in daylight (eg church spire or pylon tip).The 150P is a smashing little scope - I started with one and saturn was the very first thing I ever looked at (apart from moon in binocs). But you really do have to aim correctly and use low power ep's to start - use a 25mm ep to find it.Then when you have it be very careful changing to the 9mm. Things you see at 25mm can disappear when you pop the 9mm in cos the object is just off the center of the fov. And it can be a pig to find in the 9mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevdan Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Hi,So eventually gave up at around 12:30, Dissapointed, But looking at stellarium this morning, Saturn will be directly south at around 2am so clouds permitting, I'll have another go tonight.Also I looked at the field of view calculator and according to that the view I should be getting of M42 are so much more defined than the grey cloud I see with my set up using the same few lenses I got, If I tell it to use a 9mm plossl and look at M42 using no barlow, well all I can say is I'd be very well impressed if I could see that.kev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrNeb Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 You will kmow when you see saturn - cos you'll be dancing round the garden like a madman lol. My guess is that your aim was out - make sure the finder and ota are well aligned on a distant object a mile or two away in daylight (eg church spire or pylon tip).The 150P is a smashing little scope - I started with one and saturn was the very first thing I ever looked at (apart from moon in binocs). But you really do have to aim correctly and use low power ep's to start - use a 25mm ep to find it.Then when you have it be very careful changing to the 9mm. Things you see at 25mm can disappear when you pop the 9mm in cos the object is just off the center of the fov. And it can be a pig to find in the 9mm. That was me last night! saw it for the first time. perfectly crisp at around 11:30 onwards. i could see lapetus, titan, rhea and i think tethys. i could also see a cloud belt on the disk at 200xstunning... i didn't think anything could top Jupiter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brantuk Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Yes Kev - you won't see colour in any ep. What you will see is the grey cloud shape of the M42 nebula and the trapezium stars in the middle of it. How well defined the stars are will depend on the quality of the ep - at worst they may be merged into one or two stars. A good ep on a clear night will resolve each of the four.Make sure the fov calculator is on the "scope" or "observing" setting rather than the "camera" setting. Cameras will pick up the colour which the human eye can't see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brantuk Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Congrats DrNeb - yup it's the crown jewel of the planets - very exciting first time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerTheDodger Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I spent about 3.5hrs looking at it last night, didn't want to take my eyes off it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevdan Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 A good ep on a clear night will resolve each of the four.Hi, I could easily make out all 4 stars which althouh very close together, My eyepieces are GSO plossl's.Also DrNeb I hate you, only kidding but i'm very jealous.Kev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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