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Well it's nearly 4am and I have just come in from the observatory, in my quest to observe the Encke Gap in Saturn's A-ring. The Seeing did hold up as i had hoped from earlier tonight, and i feel i was very close to seeing it at 167x on my 8" f5 Newt (12mm Plossl EP with my Televue 2x barlow); but alas it was just out of reach ( and I had no more power to throw on). Not even averted vision would tease it out. I was concentrating on the top and bottom points of the rings in their current orientation, as that is where the seems to be the best chance. Perhaps if I had the 8" f12 Cassegrain on the mount i might have been able to push the magnification more tonight, but I Don't like changing over scopes in the dark, if I can avoid it. The sky certainly seemed like it could handle more magnification.
As we move towards the opposition on the 20th of July, Saturn will get larger, and that will help a lot, provided I can get this Seeing conditions again at that time. Fingers crossed.
Great night anyway, such stability in the upper atmosphere has been rare lately.
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