Well stuff me I could not believe it is clear tonight. Just came inside from a bit of Saturn and moon viewing with the trusty 10" dob.
It has been like over a month since I touched a telescope, hell its been so long I even forget how to use it!
I think I've lost my stamina as well, as that 10" tube was somehow alot heavier than the last time I lifted it!
Anyways, I left the scope to cool for 45 minutes while I watched Home and Away. Came back outside, the thing was already dewed. It's cold damp night, a typical winter affair in Melbourne (and almost everywhere else going by other peoples reports).
Started off with
Saturn at 156x. Immediately I realise I can go higher. I topped out at 240x with the 13mm LVW and 2.5x powermate and the image quality was very good, with bursts of near razor sharp resolution. Crepe ring was there, although not as easy as during previous sessions, perhaps due to the moon glare interfering. I also tried 250x with the 5mm LVW, but liked the powermate 240x view better - it's almost as if the powermate IMPROVES the performance of the eyepiece. Man, I LOVE that thing!
The Cassini division was very clear, sharply etched. Atleast 2 cloud belts were visible, although once again the moon was probably interfering. One interesting feature I noticed - some shading was visible in ring B at the ansae, don't think I've seen such a thing before. The outer edge of ring A also had a dusky hue.
The
Moon also looked nice and crisp at 240x. The 4 main craterlets in Plato were easy and the double craterlet could easily be seen as two seperate pits. Took a long hard gander at the Straight wall. Using the length of the wall as a guide, about 110km, I'd estimate I could see craters down to 3km across, perhaps even 2km.
Oh and it was surprising to see Scorpius above the horizon at 8.30pm, as the last time I was at the eyepiece, it wasnt till midnight that it could be seen!
Decided to take a break, watched Family Guy then came back out at about 9.15pm. Well, the seeing has gone to hell so I packed up. Scope was dewed up beyond all comprehension, after only 2 hours. But it was a good hour at the eyepiece getting moon-blind