A little Saturn and Venus from this morning

[iceman (Mike)]

Little, literally

These were captured this morning with a 2x barlow, with my DMK21AF04 and 12" newt. The image was fairly stable at the shorter focal lengths. Passing clouds and variable seeing combined with the low altitude would've made long focal length imaging a frustrating experience.

So here's a couple of quick images.

Interesting to note, both Saturn and Venus are almost the same angular diameter as seen from Earth righ tnow (Venus 19" and Saturn 18").

Thanks for looking.

[erick (Eric)]

Rings? What rings? I'm going to enjoy watching these rings vanish and return over the next few years!

Nice start, Mike.

[leon]

Mike they are just brilliant, just one question, do you ever sleep

Leon

[davidpretorius]

I have given up on low altitude stuff.

It is nice to look at naked, but my camera is missing me!

thanks for reminding me what they look like!

[Outbackmanyep]

I think i'll stick to imaging comets...Mike's got the planetary stuff sewn up!

Great stuff indeed!
Cheers!

[Orion]

Very nice Mike.

[geli2@bigpond.c]

that is the best shot of saturn i have ever seen

[callingrohit (Vivek)]

excellent saturn image Mike.

Is saturn visible, using a 8" dob and a 9mm Plossl EP? I still haven't received my 2x barlow and I have been trying to see saturn since last 3-4 nights but all I can see just a blob next to Regulus and no rings are visible ???

Thanks

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Vivek

Are you sure you were looking at Saturn? Even in poor seeing you should see Saturn as an oval shaped yellow/white blob Hopefully you'd still be able to see the main gap between the planet and the inside of the rings.

The 9mm EP is fine to start with, especially when the seeing is bad.

The best time to look is around 4am onwards towards the NE. This screenshot is from Sydney, so it might be a bit lower for you.

If you're sure you're looking at Saturn, you might want to check your collimation!

[callingrohit (Vivek)]

Thanks for the info Mike. I haven't had a chance to go out but will be doing so over the weekend.

The map that you attached in your post, was it from stellarium ? I tried configuring it according to my coordinates but it would just not save it and goes back to the original setting.

Thanks

[iceman (Mike)]

No mine was from Starry Night Pro.

[callingrohit (Vivek)]

oh ok....thanks

[DJVege]

Awesome images, Mike. Love the detail in Saturn.

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

Fantastic photos Mike.

I also cant wait till Staurns Rings go " edge on ".

Saturn has a special place in my early observing years.
I hade the privellige of seeing them edge on many many years ago.
Maybe 1980 or so when I was on night shift as an apprentice, and all I had was 4.5 inch Newt.....still a great sight back then...

Keep up the good work.

Oh, and how do you manage a day job ????