Hi all,
I had a look up the night sky tonight, and I had a suspicion that even though transparency wasn't great, the atmosphere was in good nic to punch the magnification. And it was!
Saturn was my sweetheart tonight.
My trusty 8" f/4 scope was my weapon of choice. Sets up in 1min, and I didn't feel like setting up the C8. With the f/4 ratio, tonight was the first time I really got to use my 2X 2" ED Barlow - I've only had it for a year,
. But it was the right tool for the job tonight. I combined it with my 5mm Hyperion and 360X was on offer. And tonight Saturn was tack sharp with very little thermal disruption.
A lot of detail was had. The A ring was for once noticeably darker than the B ring. The Cassini division was a delight to follow, just slipping out of definition as it crossed right in front of the gas giant's disk. The C ring too was plainly visible on the inside. The cloud structure was easy to make out. The equatorial banding was darker, and a little streakish/banded. And the polar region a little darker too.
Of particular delight was to notice the softening of the disks leeward side from the sun's direction. It gave the planet a rather impressive 3D effect. And being just past opposition, a very thin strip of the shadow of the disk could be seen being cast across the rings. On the near side, a nice little flaring of the rings shadow on the disk could be noticed on the disk's limbs. It was a very nice session tonight, spent on this Ring Master.
Size of sketched disk approx. 20mm.
Object: Saturn
Scope: 8" f/4 push pull dob
Gear: 5mm Hyperion plus 2X 2" ED Barlow, 360X
Date: 12th June, 2013
Location: Sydney, Australia
Media: Graphite and coloured soft pastels onto white paper, pasted onto black.
hi guys well that was fun stationary shopping now I'm all set and ready to go 
200x4/5x2=320
