Finding Saturn

[BilliGoatsGruff]

I was just wondering if someone could tell me what Saturn looks like to the naked eye? Is it visible or do you have to us a telescope/binoculars to find it? I've tried star hopping from Alpha Centauri but I get lost pretty quickly.

[gts055]

Hii, if you look directly east and then its about 26 degrees altitude above the horizon, thats for you in Adelaide. I used "Stellarium" for the altitude. Mark

[Nikolas]

http://nightskyonline.info/?tag=saturn-finder-chart

[gts055]

It will look like a yellowish large "star" but not not as bright as a star of course as we see Saturn by the reflected sunlight of our sun. Mark

[julianh72]

Billi,

Saturn is easy to find in the early evening at the moment. It rises in the East at about 6:00 pm, so is halfway up the sky by about 9:00 pm. It looks like a bright yellowish star, but it "burns" more steadily than a star (the visible planets don't twinkle). Right now, it's about 10 degrees away from Antares, a Magnitude 1 red star, so if you see two bright yellow / orange stars in the eastern sky, Saturn is the more northerly one of the pair.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, get yourself a planetarium app, as they can be a huge boon in finding your way around the night sky. There are many to choose from, including some very good free or sub-$5 apps. SkySafari is my personal favourite.

[BeanerSA]

Another helpful tip is to learn to recognise Scorpius, with it's bright orange star Antares. Saturn is hanging just off the end of that at the moment. As others have said it has a yellow/gold colour and lacks the shimmer of a star.

[BilliGoatsGruff]

I've been using Star Walk to help me get around. It's easy to use once you know some of the basic constellations. I had Stellarium on my phone but that got a bit too confusing :shrug:

Hipefully tonight the skies will be clear and my girls will be well behaved so that I can go outside for a look :) fingers crossed!

[OneSmallStep]

I can recommend the Sky Chart App. I'm a noob and managed to find Saturn using its AR mode (ie GPS, screen orientates with movement).

Now all I need is a better scope, clear skies and my copy of 'turn left at orion' to arrive! :lol:

[BilliGoatsGruff]

I'll download that one and see what it's like :) Turn Left at Orion is supposed to be a great book. My dad is getting me The Backyard Astronomer's Guide for my birthday so I can't wait for that! Don't hold your breath for clear skies though, these clouds seem to be pretty stubborn.

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Thanks everyone for helping me out :D it didn't take long, with the help of Star Walk and the tips on what to look for. After I locked onto it with my 25mm ep I popped in the 10mm and oh my! It's definitely something special. Even without the colours that you see in magazines and on tv. Haha I've definitely caught the bug now! :party:

[gts055]

Thats great you found it, I am sure you will view it many times in the future too. Its a wonderful sight. Mark :)

[OneSmallStep]

Nice! No clear skies here unfortunately, like you though my first sight of Saturn has given me the bug.

Now to find a bargain priced 8" dob!

[BeanerSA]

That's awesome. Such a good result!

[OzStarGazer]

Congratulations! :)
By the way, Saturn will be in opposition on the 23rd (so it should be really nice to watch)! I hope to have a look at it again soon myself. Last year I had some nice views - small, but cute!

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Cute is definitely the best way to describe it. It's funny though, because it is such a grand planet. I'm hoping for clear skies on the 23rd! Haha maybe I should just throw a party and invite my whole family over for a look!

[OneSmallStep]

Might want to place your booking for clears skies first! :P

[BilliGoatsGruff]

A girl can surely dream! :face:

[OzStarGazer]

I used to believe in dreams of clear skies more before I got into astronomy... :) I often asked for clemency from the clouds gods :bowdown:, but they still shattered my dreams.
Now though the situation has slightly improved, so fingers crossed!

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Haha I've never cared so much about the clouds in my life! Well apart from when I used to walk home from school and they threatened to rain. The cloud gods have probably gone on a holiday and left their kids in charge. It might explain why we've had hardly any clear skies. The forecast for here next week is looking pretty gloomy. Possible showers and thunderstorms from Monday onwards :sad:

[OzStarGazer]

Here we finally have some clear skies, but it is very cold at night, and even worse, VERY windy... :(
http://static.quoteswave.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/High-Expectations-Lead-To-Higher-Disappointments.jpg

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Haha that picture sums it up perfectly. The weather is all over the place for us. If we have cloudy days then the nights seem to be clear and vice versa. It's extremely hard to predict what each night will be like!

[noeyedeer]

Skippy Sky is useful if you're not already familiar with it
www.skippysky.com.au/Compact/Australia/Compact_Oz.html

I use the compact version because it's easier to use on the phone, but there is the traditional link up top to increase the forecast to 120 hours.

matt

[OzStarGazer]

Did you remember to look at Saturn yesterday? :)
It was really pretty! I found it in 5 secs with my 25mm ep, then tried the 8mm Starguider and it was super clear. Unfortunately I don't think the photos I took in afocal mode turned out very well (it is rare to take good pics of Saturn in afocal mode with our scope, although last year I managed to take a couple of pics), and I could not use the Neximage as I was in an awkward position on the balcony. :( (This is the beauty of the SW by the way; you can really put in virtually anywhere, which unfortunately is not always the case with my refractor for example.) However, what I saw is still right in my mind and it was beautiful! :thumbsup:

[BilliGoatsGruff]

No :( I totally forgot. We had such a busy day yesterday and my bed was screaming at me haha.

[Rob_K]

Stars twinkling and planets not should not be taken as an immutable law of the Universe, and depends a lot on local seeing conditions. From my location, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (and of course Venus and Mercury) are often seen twinkling, and not just at low altitudes. Fortunately the horrendous seeing is more often than not compensated for by brilliant transparency! :)

Cheers -

[pgc hunter]

I am glad I'm not the only one to see this! I see Venus twinkle every night currently after sundown. Says it all about Melbourne seeing (which has been pure crap this year) :rolleyes: Subtle, but it does actually twinkle. If seeing is poor and the planets are close to the horizon, they do twinkle. This whole planets "not twinkling" thing is a myth.

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Being in a rural area, the theory of planets not twinkling holds true. I guess it has a lot to do with the amount of air pollution in Melbourne, as opposed to the Riverland. It it wasn't for that, then I would probably still be trying to find Saturn :)

[pgc hunter]

It's actually nothing to do with being in a rural area, but rather the steadiness of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is made up of multiple layers of air moving in different directions, speeds and are different temperatures. The local conditions affect seeing aswell, i.e. downwind of a structure or natural features such as hills or trees, which disturb the airflow. When these layers interact, seeing becomes poor to varying degrees, sometimes the turbulence is bad enough that the planets do twinkle. It is a very subtle effect however, nowhere near as obvious as stellar twinkling.

[leo.a]

Viewed Saturn from Brisbane city 2 nights ago around 7.00pm.
Very disappointing low in the East. But still a beautiful site, no better planet to view in my option.

[julianh72]

Try it again closer to midnight, when it is at its highest point in the sky (about 80 degrees altitude; 10 degrees from the zenith in Brisbane), or maybe an hour or two earlier. Saturn is just past opposition right now, so it is looking great at the moment, but you want to see it when it is well above the horizon for best viewing.

[OzStarGazer]

When I looked at Saturn the other day it was twinkling alright. :) But I was still pleased. A pity it looks so tiny in the photos I took. It was much bigger when looking through the 8mm eyepiece. Not like the photos we see here or elsewhere of course, but our scope is too small for those images of course.

[BilliGoatsGruff]

I'm definitely not disappointed with what we have. I haven't experienced anything bigger, so it keeps me satisfied. I'll be getting a set of new eyepieces in a fortnight so that's something to look forward to. Of course that means the weather will be horrible! :rofl: