First observation of Saturn

[jonathan]

Had my first view of Saturn tonight, yay! A little bit disappointed as it suffered from the same shimmering that Jupiter does owing to the houses that are in that direction, but chuffed to see the rings at such a great angle and some moons.

Also was visited by a hedgehog three times, funny little beasts, they make an odd grumbling sound as they shuffle along!

[Lorne]

Just back inside from a couple of hours in the garden, first real go with my new scope after having it 3 weeks, after polar aligning I tracked Saturn as it appeared above the trees near me until it went behind my neighbours trees, well pleased with what I could see compared to my old scope

PS.. no hedgehogs, just frogs croaking from my pond

[jonathan]

Sounds like we both had a good couple of hours out there tonight.

I forgot to charge my power tank so the battery was lacking some amps, tracking was a bit pants (or that could be because I put the wrong time in.. hmm). I don't think I'll get much better for Saturn out of this scope, 10mm is about the maximum, and in between shimmers the view was excellent so it shows what I could get if I was away from the houses; I'd have to drive to the top of the hill though, and I don't yet have a travel case for the telescope.

It turned really nippy about 10.30 so I came in.

[stick]

good work Jonathan

managed to get an hours viewing in tonight of M42 and then Saturn, before the clouds came rolling in

grab it while you can eh !!!

stick

[Mikea]

I also had a crack at Saturn just now and was pleased to be able to pick out some of the moons (Iapetus, Titan and Rhea) thanks to a decent SPL EP!

[Lorne]

10mm eyepiece was my limit too, When I 2X barlowed it I got fuzzyness. This is Skywatcher 10mm that comes with the scope. I Imagine that I would get a clearer view with a "better" eyepiece.

[SirFoo]

Well done everyone! I also spent quite some time last night viewing Saturn and a,couple of moons before the clouds came in. Lovely night though and also managed M59 and M60. They were incredibly faint.

[Vega]

A great night to observe it, it reached opposition last night. Still too far low and East at 10pm for me (tree in the way and I got work next morning). Just a few more days and it will be another 20 arcmins West (past the tree) .

Matt

[jonathan]

A great night to observe it, it reached opposition last night. Still too far low and East at 10pm for me (tree in the way and I got work next morning). Just a few more days and it will be another 20 arcmins West (past the tree) .

Matt

I had to wait until it rose over the garage roof from my position on the driveway, thought I'd try it there where the ground is very firm instead of lugging everything up the hill that is our garden; it turned out to be quite a good spot, just as dark really once the IR-triggered security light turned itself off. May try round the back of the garage next time which is away from any security lights, this would exclude a lot of stuff to the South but that's where the village is so would be wibbly wobbly in that direction anyway.