Hi Paul & All,
Quote:
Originally Posted by ozskywatcher
Do you happen to remember what size telescope you used - which showed the rings that close to ring crossing?
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I know that the rings were just visible in my old 25cm (10") only 40hrs post one of the three ring-plane crossings in 1995 as a faint ray (line). The seeing that night for Sydney was exceptional (some of the best I've seen in Sydney) and the image was perfectly stable -- without a quiver at all at x290 and x363, but showed some few wobbles at x580.
I think I watched Saturn that night (very heavy dew as I recall) for about 4 hrs almost non-stop. Thoroughly exceptional night. The detail visible was amazing -- there were three belts visible in either hemisphere and the ring shadow was razor thin black slash on the ball of the planet.
The rings this year open a little from now, up to about 4 or 5 degrees in late April and then close down toward the ring-plane crossing in September (ish) -- but it will be lost in the glare of the Sun at the time.
Make the best of what the view affords.
Best,
Les D