Telescope Reviews: Quick Sketch of Titan Transit 7-1-09

Here is a quick sketch of the Titan shadow transit. I was able to view the transit with passing clouds starting around 8:50 PM PDST. The seeing started off suprisingly good which enabled me to observe at 208X. The sketch was made at 9:10 PM PDST. The shadow skimmed the rings as it moved across the globe. The rings have narrowed and the Cassini division at the tip of the rings was barely visible. Saturn's shadow was seen on the rings. This transit is the 6th Titan shadow transit I have seen this year. The weather hasn't been good lately though the last two transits the weather cooperated fortunately. Since the first transit I observed, the shadow of Titan has been gradually moving to the center of the globe with each new transit. And the distance between the shadow and Titan has increased. Greater magnification would have been helpful last night to better see Titan's shadow and the ring separation, but from what I could see, the shadow of Titan had almost entered the shadow of the rings of Saturn. It will be very close if not right on top of the rings on the next transit on July 17th. I hope to see this one as Saturn moves closer to conjunction with the sun. Dean

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1971 10" Cave Newtonian F/6
MoonLite CR Focuser Telrad Finder 8x50 finder
TV 40mm, 32, 20, 7.4, Meade 6mm, UO 5mm, Meade 2x Barlow
7x50 Binoculars

Edited by Dean Norris (07/04/09 03:08 PM)

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