Saturn on 11 August 2022

[Averton (P and C)]

Last night there was an unexpected clear couple of hours after sunset. The predictions showed that it wasn't going to last much later than 9pm so we decided to image Saturn early even though it was much lower in the sky than desirable. The other issues were that the wind was quite strong and the almost full moon wasn't that far away. On the plus side, compared to Tuesday night it was much warmer and therefore we didn't need the dew heater. We had put the scope out at 6pm so it had a good chance to cool. We feel that it was a better image than on Tuesday night and it is most likely the closest we are going to get to an image at opposition as the weather for the next week is predicted to be very ordinary.

Details as per the image.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Hats off for the endeavour. Managed to capture a nice shot well done and the circling moons makes the scene.
I was waiting patiently last night for a gap in the clouds albeit skippy sky predicting an ordinary night- seeing was near perfect behind the cloud cover alas the moment arrived after midnight when my scope decided to do a meridian flip- just as Saturn appeared for a short spell!
Missed opportunity. Hope someone out there was luckier than me.

Keep it up you never know there may be another chance - it is Melbourne!

Anthony

[John W (John Wilkinson)]

Pretty good image considering the conditions and moon position. Well done. Cheers John W.

[Dave882 (David)]

Great image! You’re really punching above your weight with the 6”. Well done!
I’m hoping to get some shots tonight if the weather is compliant…

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Fantastic image of Saturn Clare and Peter. Thanks for posting.

[Averton (P and C)]

Originally Posted by Anth10

Hats off for the endeavour. Managed to capture a nice shot well done and the circling moons makes the scene.
I was waiting patiently last night for a gap in the clouds albeit skippy sky predicting an ordinary night- seeing was near perfect behind the cloud cover alas the moment arrived after midnight when my scope decided to do a meridian flip- just as Saturn appeared for a short spell!
Missed opportunity. Hope someone out there was luckier than me.

Keep it up you never know there may be another chance - it is Melbourne!

Anthony

Thanks Anthony.
Now that is a pain! Mounts that think they know more than you ... really??
Hopefully we'll all get another chance.
As you say, it is Melbourne. We were in beautiful sunshine this morning and now have a thunderstorm outside and apparently only a few kms further north they have hail storms.

[Averton (P and C)]

Thanks very much John, David and Joe