Saturn Aug 18

Started by macdonjh, 08/19/2013 05:17PM
Posted 08/19/2013 05:17PM Opening Post
Last night was one of those nights and I'd be interested to know if anyone else had an exceptional observation. I'm sure it's the same feeling a golfer gets when he hits a hole-in-one that keeps him coming back to the course in spite of all the bogeys in between. I set up my home-made 200mm classical Cassegrain intending to take a quick look at Saturn to verify that the collimation tweaking I had done on Saturday night was an improvement. Holy cow! It was still twilight, really, about 8:30pm. I was immediately greeted by Titan and Rhea. Honestly, Rhea was in-and-out with averted vision, but it was there. I immediately switched from 100x to 200x. Unlike previous views with the 200mm Cassegrain, the Cassini division was immediately visible all the way around the rings. I realize that the Cassini division isn't hard to see, especially when the rings are tilting as much as they are this year. But, as I said, I wasn't able to see them before with this scope. I could also see the shadow of the planet on the rings. I could also see one of the equatorial/ temperate bands on the planet's disc.

I had intended to go out, look for thirty minutes, then go back in. I ended up staying out for over an hour. It was hypnotic. The longer I stared, the more I saw, just like it's supposed to be. I could see, in addition to the equatorial/ temperate band, many striations of tan all across the face of Saturn. I also saw three colors in the rings. Previous to last night I've only ever seen light and dark (OK, yellow and black). Last night, though, I could see the black of Cassini, the yellow of the main body of the rings, and bright white near the Cassini division where the rings get thin. Perhaps I was willing myself to see something that I know is there, but I also bet I saw the Enke Minimum at least a couple of times.

Makes me glad I didn't sell this scope for parts and buy a Mewlon 210. It's pretty cool having something you built working that well.
Posted 08/19/2013 09:00PM #1
Like location is in real estate, it's all about the seeing, provided you have decent optics. I had one of those Saturn moments years ago with a 10" reflector in a city location. It was after midnight and I had set everything out on the porch early to cool down. I was going to take some pictures of Saturn when it got overhead late in the night. The view was jaw dropping. I'm still waiting for another night like that one. One of the pictures I took that night even made it into Astronomy magazine. This was back when film was the only game in town. Digital was still a word unknown to the picture taking public as were home computers.

Paul