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Warren914
member

Reged: 03/21/12

Loc: Nova Scotia, Canada

Saturn?
#5188857 - 04/24/12 09:07 PM

I brought the scope outside again tonight. It's easy to see Venus and Mars, but I still don't know which light is Saturn. Is it visible to the naked eye? Any brighter or different color than the surrounding stars? Any hints to point me the right way?

Sky conditions here are not so great tonight, seeing and transparency both poor, but it beats rain and cloud. The ground is still wet, but I'll take whatever time I can get outside.

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Troy Greenwald
member

Reged: 02/21/12

Loc: Bolingbrook, IL USA

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Warren914]
#5188862 - 04/24/12 09:12 PM

Saturn is to the left of the star Spica by about 10 degrees or two finger widths. It is more less at the same elevation in the sky as Spica. Look to the SE sky about 20 degrees elevation at the the time of this post. Its pretty hard to miss it looks like it could be Spica twin with approx same brightness but different color.

Edit: Just saw you are in nova scotia canada. Altitude in the sky might be different but it should still be near Spica in the SE.

Edited by Troy Greenwald (04/24/12 09:15 PM)

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krp
super member

Reged: 11/10/10

Loc: Central Illinois

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Troy Greenwald]
#5188868 - 04/24/12 09:16 PM

Right now Saturn is only a little dimmer than Mars. It just looks like a normal yellowish star by Spica but once you see it in your telescope, you'll know.

Edited by krp (04/24/12 09:17 PM)

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Warren914
member

Reged: 03/21/12

Loc: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: krp]
#5188885 - 04/24/12 09:48 PM

Success! It has ears.

I was looking at another bright star to the left and above. Saturn and Spica are barely above the roof of my garage and I had to wait for a tree to move out of the way. At one point the sky was overcast so that I couldn't see either star with naked eye, but it still came through the scope.
Next night out I'll know what to look for and hopefully be able to use the better eyepieces. Tonight was the Z12 with GSO 2x 2" barlow and Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom.
Thanks for the help!

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Al8236
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/18/10

Loc: 48.9173N 122.1390W

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Warren914]
#5189028 - 04/24/12 11:14 PM

Quote:

Saturn and Spica are barely above the roof of my garage and I had to wait for a tree to move out of the way.

Do your trees wander about your yard often?

Sorry had to!

Glad you found it!

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SeattleScott
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/14/11

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Al8236]
#5189059 - 04/24/12 11:34 PM

Another trick - stars twinkle, planets don't. This isn't an absolute rule as even planets will twinkle during a hurricane, but it is a good rule of thumb. And to me Saturn looks a little yellow to the naked eye, instead of most stars that look whiter.

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New_Astronomer
member

Reged: 12/30/10

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: SeattleScott]
#5189217 - 04/25/12 02:45 AM

Saturn is a bright yellow first magnitude "star" next to another bright first magnitude star. Under a telescope, Saturn appears as an elongated or oval star and you might even be able to see a faint dot nearby, that's Titan! Let us know!

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Warren914
member

Reged: 03/21/12

Loc: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: New_Astronomer]
#5189251 - 04/25/12 05:31 AM

I couldn't get much magnification last night due to sky conditions. Maybe 150 or so max. At least now I know what I'm looking for and the weekend forecast looks better. Maybe Titan will come out soon.

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Warren914
member

Reged: 03/21/12

Loc: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: SeattleScott]
#5189304 - 04/25/12 07:22 AM

Have you ever tried to train a tree? They have minds of their own and no regard for telescopes!

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rustynailz911
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 01/30/08

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Warren914]
#5190640 - 04/25/12 08:45 PM

Warren
Trees give me problems here in my yard on the Cape Saturn takes until 1am before i can get a good view.How is the Z12 treating you?

Russell

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bhpnbr
member

Reged: 04/11/12

Loc: DFW, Texas

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: rustynailz911]
#5190815 - 04/25/12 11:14 PM

I read a lot of informative posts in this forum. Stellarium, star charts and a few books are regularly and highly recommended. These are no doubt excellent sources for the newbie astronomer to learn the sky the right way. Having said that, I first found saturn using an app on my android phone called Google sky map. Its like Stellarium; just portable and has an in-built GPS. I am surprised no one ever mentions it. Is Google sky map taboo here?

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jrbarnett
Eyepiece Hooligan

Reged: 02/28/06

Loc: Petaluma, CA

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Warren914]
#5190855 - 04/25/12 11:37 PM

If it's extremely bright and doesn't twinkle much, it's a planet. Point the scope at all bright, stable objects. You'll immediately be able to tell which one is which in the eyepiece. Saturn is in Leo currently, not too far from Regulus (a bright and twinkly star).

Good luck!

- Jim

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TexasRed
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 05/17/11

Loc: East Texas

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: jrbarnett]
#5190964 - 04/26/12 12:54 AM

That's Mars, Jim.

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dpwoos
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 10/18/06

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: TexasRed]
#5190987 - 04/26/12 01:15 AM

I did a school k-6 observing evening last week, and at one point aimed my green laser somewhere near Polaris and asked some kids if a planet could be in that part of the sky. One kid said yes, it could. However, some other kid immediately said that a planet couldn't be over there as that wasn't where planets travelled. I expanding on that a bit, showing the ecliptic with my laser - very cool. We looked at Jupiter (briefly), Venus, and Mars. However, Saturn was (as expected) a real wow target, and kids kept coming back to the eyepiece for more! Once you figure out where the planets can be, then it is pretty easy to find the brighter ones. Also, binoculars are a good way to pick them out.

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Jerry-rigged
sage

Reged: 01/30/12

Loc: Coastal Texas.

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: bhpnbr]
#5191223 - 04/26/12 08:39 AM

Quote:

I read a lot of informative posts in this forum. Stellarium, star charts and a few books are regularly and highly recommended. These are no doubt excellent sources for the newbie astronomer to learn the sky the right way. Having said that, I first found saturn using an app on my android phone called Google sky map. Its like Stellarium; just portable and has an in-built GPS. I am surprised no one ever mentions it. Is Google sky map taboo here?

I've used google sky maps(it was the first sky map app I tried), and I though it was cool. However, it didn't have much information built in, like star names, no search for object, etc. (this was over a year ago)Even as a complete and total neeob, I quickly was looking for more information than Google Sky could give me.

Right now I am using SkEye (free). It shows more starts, and if you center on a star/planet/messer, it will give you name, mag, alt-alz. Plus you can search for objects and it will give you "push-too" pointer to find it. Also has a decent night mode.

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RishM
member

Reged: 03/19/12

Loc: Near Boston, MA

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Jerry-rigged]
#5191404 - 04/26/12 10:31 AM

Saturn is an absolute joy to watch. Just watching it floating out there with its gaggle of moons is so soothing.

Last night I got my very first webcam capture of this beauty. It had barely cleared the top of a street light, which is washing out the details. Even then, I could spend hours just looking at Saturn.

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vern123
member

Reged: 10/29/11

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: RishM]
#5191537 - 04/26/12 11:44 AM

Great Pic, RishM. I am anxiously awaiting clear skies to get a view of Saturn.

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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)

Reged: 06/24/03

Loc: Los Angeles

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: RishM]
#5193879 - 04/27/12 06:49 PM

Quote:

Saturn is an absolute joy to watch. Just watching it floating out there with its gaggle of moons is so soothing.

Last night I got my very first webcam capture of this beauty. It had barely cleared the top of a street light, which is washing out the details. Even then, I could spend hours just looking at Saturn.

That is an excellent representation of how Saturn looks in a telescope at 100-150X with about a 3" scope.
Warren will see a lot more when the seeing is steady.

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REC
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/20/10

Loc: NC

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: Starman1]
#5194652 - 04/28/12 10:30 AM Attachment (26 downloads)

Good observation Don, I wonder if anyone has a picture of it as to what it would look like at 200x with say a 6-8" scope?

Here is what it looks like in my scope at 120x, but not as bright as it actually looks in person.

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barbarosa
professor emeritus

Reged: 04/11/10

Loc: "lamorinda", CA

Re: Saturn? new

[Re: TexasRed]
#5202002 - 05/02/12 02:19 PM

Quote:

That's Mars, Jim.

Flash-- Mothers for Peace and the usual Nobel Laureates petitioned the IAU to drop names that promote or glorify war.

"The Most Interesting Astronomer in the Universe" suggested changing the name to Saturn and the IAU adopted the new name by acclamation. At the same time, the IAU agreed to redress a great wrong and the planet formerly known as Saturn is now Pluto.

The news caused a groundswell of demands on the part of various groups calling for a complete end to Euro-Centric naming. Groups demanding names that promote “moral values” pointed out that all of the current names have defects moral and otherwise. Saturn ate his children; Jupiter was a rake, Venus salacious, Uranus an illegitimate child, Neptune the product of an unnatural union and Mercury a capitalist minion.

Neither the IAU nor "The Most Interesting Astronomer in the Universe" returned calls.

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