Saturn with spots - Dec. 31, 2010

Hi to all,

I haven't posted for a while because of little or no observing, due to (too) many moves. However, I got a chance to observe Saturn for a couple of hours on yesterday morning under excellent sky and would like to share this sketch. I observed near Verona (Italy) with a Newton 200/6, time of the sketch is 05:35ut. Transparency was excellent as was seeing (II in the Antoniadi scale), but heavy light pollution.

A bright spot in the N temperate region was clearly visible at 240x, but one tended to "lose" it as one increased powers in order to see it a bit better. Brightness and contrast must have faded a lot since Dec. 19, when David Gray estimated the brightness of the only spot then visible at -1 on BAA scale (that is, out of scale!) and easily seen in a 3'' refractor. It was still the brightest feature on the planet, with a distinct white colour as opposed to the yellowish globe and brown bands. Contrast was better with a blue filter, worse with a yellow one and much worse in red light.

I had my best views of the spots at dawn, while Saturn barely "breathed" at 360-500x. I was almost frozen, but it was worth it - as always.

Happy new year to everybody!

Idp

Wow! Beautiful sketch! And thanks for the information about the colorfilters. I hope I can catch the storm myself, but every morning when he's visible, it was cloudy.

Awesome sketch and thanks for the invaluable tips with the filters---I have nearly the same setup (200mm/f6 reflector) and it's cooling outside as I type this. I'm hoping the clouds hold off long enough for me to check out Saturn before my son wakes up...I have a tight window and fumbling with filters would have eaten up valuable moments of observing. I'll check it out with the blue now and see what happens!

Awesome sketch!

hi,
great visual observation !
Thank´s for the detailed information. I`am now electrify
I try to catch at the next opportunity a view on Saturn in the morning time ...
CS
Christian

Great sketch of Saturn.
Gives me hope of getting a clear view of the storm.

Ivano,

Thanks for posting your excellent sketch and observation. I hope the storm stays relatively bright for a while so we visual observers can get a good look at it. The trick is arranging for a clear sky at the time the storm is in view--quite a trick for many of us this winter...

Excellent drawing and observation. I am still waiting to see the storm !!!

Ivano,

This is a wonderful sketch of Saturn showing much detail.
Happy New year to you also.

Frank