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Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all) JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Saturn the beautiful       #5262617 - 06/08/12 10:54 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I do some DSO AP and visual with my AT8IN, but every so often, I love to grab n' go with my little 72mm and a light no-frills mount to scan the skies... Tonight i finally got to go back out after 10 straight nights of *BLEEP* cloudy rainy weather (even missed the transit!) Picked up the kids, grabbed my trusty AT72ED and went to a spot by the river where it was nice and dark. Broke out the little guy along with my 14,8.8 & 4.7mm ES 82s and a GSO polarizing filter and man oh man, gotta say, this is why I love astronomy. My kids were blown away and so was I. Even though the little scope that could isn't the biggest baddest kid on the block, it gave us a spectacular view of what i think is one of the most astounding objects in the night sky... Saturn the beautiful!!! feel like a kid every time i see her. Hec I even got a satellite race across my FOV... clear skies!! Post Extras:       starsoup sage Reged: 06/21/08 Loc: AR Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5262738 - 06/09/12 12:50 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I hear ya pal. I finally got my z10 out tonight to grab a look at Saturn. After a quick collimation Saturn looked great! The atmosphere was steady and not many bugs. My first scope was a Jenson 70mm I believe, and I remember feeling the samwe way you did seeing Saturn the first time. Keep looking up. Post Extras:       azure1961p Postmaster Reged: 01/17/09 Loc: USA Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: starsoup]       #5263017 - 06/09/12 08:36 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   My 70mm is the same way. Give it a good night ans the detail is really impressive - even unexpectedly so. Im glad you had a great view. Your lat and long looks like Maine no? Of course its cloudy again here in Connecticut. Pete Post Extras:       JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: azure1961p]       #5263064 - 06/09/12 09:25 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: My 70mm is the same way. Give it a good night ans the detail is really impressive - even unexpectedly so. Im glad you had a great view. Your lat and long looks like Maine no? Of course its cloudy again here in Connecticut. Pete Hey Pete, actually a few miles north of Maine, Quebec (Montreal) The last time I actually saw Saturn was 31 years ago.. some guys were looking through a scope, I happened to be walking by with some friends and asked what they were all looking at, to which one guy said, have a look. Blew me away! I'm 46 now, 3 kids, 21b/15g/13b and a couple of greys up top, but felt 15 again. I only just got back in to the hobby last year and never thought to look for the old girl(i like to think of Saturn in the feminine - personal pref) after a quick peek at Stellarium, i noticed she'd be high in the southern sky so.. there you go Post Extras:       JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: starsoup]       #5263086 - 06/09/12 09:40 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: I hear ya pal. I finally got my z10 out tonight to grab a look at Saturn. After a quick collimation Saturn looked great! The atmosphere was steady and not many bugs. My first scope was a Jenson 70mm I believe, and I remember feeling the samwe way you did seeing Saturn the first time. Keep looking up. I'm hoping for another good night of viewing, this time i'll break out the AT8 and have a gander... can;t wait to see what she'll look like through this scope... been doing mainly DSO's with it. I have a 2" ED barlow coming sometime soon, hopefully, i imagine the views through the 72 would have been even more incredible had i had more magnification... oh well i'm sure the 8" will blow me away tonight! Post Extras:       azure1961p Postmaster Reged: 01/17/09 Loc: USA Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5264229 - 06/10/12 01:24 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This thread touches on a point often overlooked; even 70mm scopes [or 72mm] have their rare GOOD nights. They often provide steadier images more often than greater aperture, but no two evenings are ever alike and truly good seeing benefits here too. There ARE those nights that are GREAT for 70mm as well, or 72mm. Just the same, lousy ones too. Pete Post Extras:       strdst Post Laureate Reged: 03/23/08 Loc: Oregon Territory Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5264281 - 06/10/12 03:03 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   After two plus weeks of clouds and rain I caught a special night as well. A 1963 Swift 831 77 X 1000 refractor and Saturn. "She" never fails to keep us from falling in love again and again. Post Extras:       JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: strdst]       #5264556 - 06/10/12 11:08 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   as a follow up to the OP, i took the AT8 out last night, 200mm aperture.. i gotta say, i think i preferred the 72mm for solar system viewing. Just had a better all around experience with the 72. Crystal clear, easy on the back (star diag + chair) and no issues with coma. I have a Baader MPCC I use for AP, supposed to be good for visual, but man, just to get the spacing between it and the EPs, i just chucked it aside and viewed without it after about 30 mins of messing around with it... anyhow, i think i'm going to get myself a 90mm+ refractor with a bino-viewer along with the ED barlow and a couple of powermates for SSytem visual as i use the 72 primarily as a guidescope (but do take it out from time to time).. ahhh.. i may just be ranting Post Extras:       Richard1949 super member Reged: 07/14/09 Loc: Michigan, USA Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5264586 - 06/10/12 11:32 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Finally got out last night. First time in 19 days! Used the 6" Newt for a change. Been a long, long time since I've used it. Poor thing was lonely. lol I've been so used to looking through the 8" SCT, I was pleasantly surprised at how crisp and bright Saturn looked compared to how it looks through the 8". Easily saw the Cassini division at 142x, even though the seeing was only average. Also spotted (easy) Titan, and spotted Rhea (quite a bit more difficult)with direct vision. I think the smaller central obstruction on the Newt compared to the large one on the SCT made a difference. Post Extras:       azure1961p Postmaster Reged: 01/17/09 Loc: USA Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: Richard1949]       #5264887 - 06/10/12 03:10 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Rich The long focus 6 is a classic to be sure. Id still hold a good C8 against it, cooled and collimated, but the 6" u mention is a true winner of a system. On that note my C6 is doing great. Great optics. Id never pit it against your 6" newt but for its league of cassegrain its pure pleasure. Glad you had a great night out. Joe, The 8" F/4 is a little more needy than the refractor in terms of having it up and working to the task. Collimation at highpower is key - that and a cooled mirror. My 70mm ALWAYS shows a steadier image than my 8" but it cant touch the detail the 8" can see. Rather, it can touch it, but it cant grab it. As far as the 90mm versus your 8" F/4, it wont show the same amount as detail as the reflector given again, proper attention to set up, but it will show a lot without the neediness the f/4 requires. The images will be steady but thats because the refractor cant resolve the air turbulence effects as well as the larger aperture. An 8" refractor would incur the same softish transient image doubling and what have you as the reflector. Some folks are dedicated refractor fans though and thats that. Pete Post Extras:       Rick Woods Postmaster Reged: 01/27/05 Loc: Inner Solar System Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: azure1961p]       #5264911 - 06/10/12 03:24 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I lucked out last night. We had friends over for dinner and stargazing, who had never looked through a telescope of any sort. The air was very calm and the seeing very good, and Saturn was razor-sharp in the 14" at ~508x (7mm Nagler). The response was gratifying: "Whoa! No way!". That was a hard one to follow, though: M13, Alberio, Xi Boo, M57, M51. The list of real knockouts for newcomers is pretty limited. But Saturn is the big boy on the block! Post Extras:       JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: azure1961p]       #5264919 - 06/10/12 03:32 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Rich The long focus 6 is a classic to be sure. Id still hold a good C8 against it, cooled and collimated, but the 6" u mention is a true winner of a system. On that note my C6 is doing great. Great optics. Id never pit it against your 6" newt but for its league of cassegrain its pure pleasure. Glad you had a great night out. Joe, The 8" F/4 is a little more needy than the refractor in terms of having it up and working to the task. Collimation at highpower is key - that and a cooled mirror. My 70mm ALWAYS shows a steadier image than my 8" but it cant touch the detail the 8" can see. Rather, it can touch it, but it cant grab it. As far as the 90mm versus your 8" F/4, it wont show the same amount as detail as the reflector given again, proper attention to set up, but it will show a lot without the neediness the f/4 requires. The images will be steady but thats because the refractor cant resolve the air turbulence effects as well as the larger aperture. An 8" refractor would incur the same softish transient image doubling and what have you as the reflector. Some folks are dedicated refractor fans though and thats that. Pete Collimation is no issue... i use Howie Glatters' collimation tools followed by the Catseye tools... end result, can't collimate any better than this, that's for sure, star test confirms 100% bang on, also mirror has fan going all the time (no vibe) so mirror is good, MPCC was my only prob.. have a thread in Eyepieces asking MPCC owners for feedback on proper placement in the optical train Post Extras:       E_Look Post Laureate Reged: 03/06/08 Loc: near New York Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5265063 - 06/10/12 05:17 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I was able to punch Saturn up to 313x last night with no rippling, defocusing, smearing, or whatever. Unfortunately, it lasted no more than ten minutes as a massive sheet of cloud rolled in and ended the night. But in that time, at 200x, it was crisp, the Cassini division was easily visible. That was all I got, as I had some relatives looking also, so time per viewing was short. I even forgot the positions of the moons! Post Extras:       edl professor emeritus Reged: 06/24/04 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: E_Look]       #5270482 - 06/13/12 11:35 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Just came in from a two hour viewing Saturn session with my Edge 8. Seeing wasn't bad, and decided to mostly use my Baader T2 Amici diagonal and planetary eyepieces. I also own the Baader Zeiss diagonal prism, but this Amici is really fantastic, especially considering what has to happen internally to get a non-reversed image. Contrast, sharpness, and detail were all great, but what struck me most was following Cassini as a thin, very dark, defined line across the ring in front of the planet (AP SPL 6mm). During periods of better better seeing the polar hood stood out with detail between it and Saturn's main belt. The crepe was easy, and color differences between the rings and the globe obvious. A well made, collimated 8" CAT is a wonderful scope, and can easily keep up and even surpass a 5" APO on the planets. That's been my experience anyway. Best, Ed L. Post Extras:       mark8888 Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/24/10 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: edl]       #5270669 - 06/14/12 05:20 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Just came in from a two hour viewing Saturn session with my Edge 8. Seeing wasn't bad, and decided to mostly use my Baader T2 Amici diagonal and planetary eyepieces. I also own the Baader Zeiss diagonal prism, but this Amici is really fantastic, especially considering what has to happen internally to get a non-reversed image. I've gotta ask... do you find the view through the Amici prism indistinguishable from the Zeiss, even at high powers? Or is there a detectable disadvantage of some sort? I actually own it but haven't gotten around to using it yet. I guess I should, your post is pretty inspiring I have used the Baader T2 (not amici) prism diagonal a lot (is that the other one you have?), and I think it's great. * I'll add to this that I just got in about an hour of Saturn viewing. Looked gorgeous through a pair of 9T6 lenses at 155x. I felt like the seeing was a little shaky so I didn't push the mag any higher. The early time combined with the horrible light pollution left only about 3 moons visible. My wife particularly liked the view tonight, I think part of the reason might be the extra eye relief compared to the barlowed 16T5 lenses I use more often on El Saturno. Edited by mark8888 (06/14/12 08:45 AM) Post Extras:       edl professor emeritus Reged: 06/24/04 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: mark8888]       #5270888 - 06/14/12 09:51 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi mark8888, I've always felt the Zeiss was a bit better, especially on Jupiter and when binoviewing, but that gap is shrinking the more I use the Amici. On small details such as craters in Plato, I felt the Zeiss gave slightly better definition. Last night on Saturn, however, the Amici was superior, at least with the combination of eyepieces I was using with the Edge. I don't do much deep sky so can't really comment on the brightness differences except to say the number of moons visible around Saturn seemed equal in both diagonals. There is a small diffraction spike on bright objects if you really look for it due to how the prisms are assembled in the Amici. Overall it's an impressive piece of glass I think, but many more comparisons are needed. Best, Ed L. Post Extras:       Kraus sage Reged: 03/10/12 Loc: Georgia. Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: edl]       #5274693 - 06/16/12 06:26 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Yup. Saturn tonight. I too have had two weeks of clouds, rain and just plain bad weather. Edited by Kraus (06/16/12 06:27 PM) Post Extras:       Kraus sage Reged: 03/10/12 Loc: Georgia. Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: Kraus]       #5274825 - 06/16/12 08:19 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   It's 8:18p.m. EDT and saturn is in view. Wow! Post Extras:       JoeM101 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/09/12 Loc: 45.66086, -73.54702 Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: Kraus]       #5274986 - 06/16/12 10:27 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   been watching her for the past 4 nights... awesome Post Extras:       Kraus sage Reged: 03/10/12 Loc: Georgia. Re: Saturn the beautiful [Re: JoeM101]       #5275365 - 06/17/12 09:43 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Yeperoo! The shadow was visible but I could not discern if I was more or less than I saw two weeks ago. The Cassini division again just magnificant. Most prominent via a yellow-orange filter. Oh and moons were easily seen. And this time I did see 'disk' in Titan. Post Extras:       Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all)

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