Saturn 2016 March 06
Saturn 20160306 11:01 UT
Another clear patch forecast for this morning and presto chango! it was kinda not too bad clear.
poor seeing and poor transparency.
At 05:00 this morning it was already well into twilight.
Had issues trying to find the *7#$% % planet. Saw a bright light in the sky, saw the telescope was a few degrees away, so moved it, put in an eyepiece and hunted for 10 minutes without finding it. Told the scope to go back to where it thought it was and it turned out to be almost in the FOV. Much dimmer than I thought.
exposures were up in the 100-125ms range, giving only 8-10 FPS. Saturn was 23 degrees up so there was a lot of air in the way.
This was a 90 second run using the best 50% of the images (after inspecting the best 15%, 25% and 75% ones as well).
The Cassini Division shows up well but little to no surface features.. maybe a couple of belts.
The planet shadow appears on the rings in back.
Saturn is at opposition in June… can’t wait for that!
Saturn 20160306 11:01 UT
Saturn is 17 arcseconds big, 39 with the rings.
A reminder that Jupiter opposition is over the next few days… and what do we have in forecast? cloud and rain!
Tuesday has a small chance but nothing good until Thursday – Sunday. Still, close enough to opposition to get the best possible images.