Saturn Observation 1-24-04

Hi Gang,

I've had some of the best Saturn views I can recall tonight. Once Saturn rose to about 60 degrees I was able to hold the Encke minima with direct vision when the atmosphere steadied. Five moons are visible and very nice detail on the planet itself. The Crepe ring was almost glowing at times and subtle shading in the B ring is obvious. I'm in right now warming up, we've got north winds gusting to 25mph with a -5 wind chill. For the Jersey Shore that's darn cold! I'm using a NexStar 9.25, Blacknights with a 2x Barlow screwed into the bottom, and a pair of 20mm Highlight Plossls. I think this gives me somewhere in the neighborhood of 435x. I have a hard time figuring out the mags with the SCT and the BVs, especially when the Barlow is in the equation. I'm waiting for Jupiter to rise up a bit more and hoping the wind dies down some.

Clear Skies,

Steve

Steve:

You stinkah. You could take me outside, put a gun to my head, tell me to point to Saturn, and I couldn't!!!! Boo-hoo-hoo. Not sure if my eyes are wet because its still raining outside or its just me crying again because ANOTHER Saturday night is cloudy!

Anyway. Thanks for the mental image. Sounds AWESOME. Seeing Encke is not small feat! I did get my first two-eyed view of the ringed planet through short suckerholes a few nights ago. Sure is P U R D Y.

Be careful now. Don't want the ol' peepers freezing to the eyepieces.

Tom M