Click to Enlarge Image Credit: David Milan from the AAO

After a few cloudy nights and mornings lately, I decided it was time for another morning planet session, to catch Saturn and also on my must-observe list was NGC2070 - the Tarantula nebula in the LMC.

I set the alarm for 3:45am, set the scope up to cool down while I went back inside for a shower. It was about 4:00am when I ventured outside and looked up. I could tell it was going to be a good session, there was very little twinkling of the stars, though the last quarter moon lit up the northern sky quite significantly.

It was going to be an interesting session for me - usually I'd been trying to take pictures of Saturn with my digicam and tripod, but due to unfortunate circumstances there would be no astrophotography this morning.

I also was having problems with the eye I hurt a few weeks ago, I think I must've blinked some crusty sleep into my eye and it was hurting again, watering, and made viewing through it difficult. I had to spend most of my time viewing with my left eye, and I don't know if anyone else experiences it, but I just find it much harder to bring objects to focus with my left eye. Maybe it just needs practise.

I'm not experienced enough to give the seeing/transparency a rating, but I do know it was better than it had been during my previous morning sessions. For once, Saturn was not transforming and melting and wobbling in front of my eyes - it stayed still and crisp. There was no wind, and the temperature felt about 10 degrees C.

Objects Observed

Object	Type	Notes
NGC 2070 - Tarantula Nebula	Nebula	One of the great nebulas in the southern skies, found in the LMC. I used my 32mm @ 39x mag and barlowed it to test out some different views. I preferred the widefield view to take in the surrounding stars. It definitely had a spider-like appearance, with legs like tentacles stretching out into space.
NGC2100	Open Cl.	An open cluster to the south of the Tarantula, almost in the same FOV with the 32mm EP.
IC2602	Open Cl.	Open Cluster sometimes called the Southern Pleiades
Saturn	Planet	My best viewing of Saturn, ever! It was higher in the sky, I didn't view across the top of my house, and the seeing was better than average. It was crisper than any previous time I'd viewed Saturn. I actually made out the Cassini Division for the first time and another first, saw some banding on the planet itself. I used all combination of eyepieces, but found the best to be the 9mm @ 139x magnification. I tried barlowing the 9mm but I couldn't bring it to focus and it looked soft and sloppy. I could make out about 4 or 5 of Saturn's moons, scattered about the planet. I spent about 30 minutes on Saturn and loved every minute of it.
Last quarter moon	Moon	The sky was getting bright fast, so before giving up and heading for work, I spent the last 5-10 minutes on the last quarter moon. After nearly blinding myself with the 32mm eyepeice (without filter), I opted for the 9mm, and then barlowed it, eliminating the need for the filter, but it was still quite bright. I spent most of my time around Plato and Clavius, and a little down the southern terminator near Tycho.

Ruined by the Sun!

With daylight savings coming up in a few weeks, the Sun is just rising earlier and ealier, and by 4:45am the sky had brightened so much that I simply couldn't make out anything faint anymore, and it was time to pack it all up and head off to work.

It was a good session, all the more interesting because it was a pure visual observing session, and none of the fiddling around with tripods and cameras trying to get a good shot of Saturn.. although as luck would have it, it would've been a great morning for taking pictures of Saturn - it looked the better than it ever had during my previous astrophotography attempts.