one in a thousand!

I'm usually blessed with exceptional skies here in New Mexico, but last night was one in a thousand! NO twinkling in the stars, and a defocused image of Saturn in a chilled scope that showed NO heat riples across it's surface. Equipment I was using: 8" Orion XT dob, Burgess binoviewer, 2X Ultima barlow, and two Sirius 12.5 plossls. As nearly as I can calculate, I was getting somewhere around 480X! Saturn was ROCK steady, and RAZOR sharp, with a HUGE image scale. Multiple banding on the planet, and details within the ring structure that I had never seen before! My best ever view of Saturn after 10 years of observing! Question: has anyone ever used a set up like this, and am I really getting 480X? That would be the theoretical limit for that scope, but there was absolutely no breakdown of the image. WOW!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

Glad you were out there on that special night Larry... there's definitely not many like it in ones lifetime...

Clear skies, and Happy Holidays to you and yours... 8)

Well, Richard, I stayed out long enough to keep swapping eyepieces until I ran out of eyepieces to swap. Ama-a-a-azing! It was just one of those rare nights when you keep pouring on the power, and the image keeps taking it. May we all be blessed with at least one of those nights, and preferably many of them!
Larry

Larry I had a night like that (one) and it has not been repeated. Try to keep the memory alive. Interestingly enough it was in December as well and viewing Saturn.

Same thing here in east central Florida, the best night for seeing in many years. Saturn was spectacular!!!!

Enjoy this while it lasts

Steve