Saturn when and how high?

[rumples riot]

Hi guys, just wanted to get some advice as to when Saturn rises and what time it is above 30 degrees from the horizon?

Is it still after two in the morning or does it rise before Midnight? I looked last night at about 1.00am after I broke down the scope, but could not visually spot it. Given that it is due to be in opposition around January 13 I had thought it would be rising a lot earlier.

Anyway your comment?

Paul

[mch62 (Mark)]

Hi Paul Here is a link to a free ware charting program.
It is a little difficult to work out at first but if you play around with the settings you will see it is extreamly comprehensive .
I use it all the time on my laptop as a finder in the field.
You can put it into night mode and orientate the chart for you view.
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/download.html

But for a quicky on saturn , it rises in the NE 40degs Azimuth at 10:38pm for Brisbane and gets to 30degs Altidude at about 1:30 am .It is 0.6 magnitude.

With the charting program , download the packages after the basic program and the first thing you will need to do is enter your home co-ordinates .
I think you will enjoy this program as you can go into a time accelerated animation , realy cool stuff. Hook up to drive systems ect ect ect
Mark

[rumples riot]

Thanks for the tip Mark. Might take up the program.

Paul

[iceman (Mike)]

For something free, quick and easy, when I just want a general idea of where the moon will be, what time the planets rise etc, I use Sky & Telescopes interactive sky chart.

Just go to the S&T site, click on the "interactive sky chart", make sure you enter your lat/long and timezone, and there it is. Just change the date/time and it shows you your sky.

Very handy for the quick peek at major stuff.. it doesn't zoom in or go into any detail of most deepspace objects, but it will show comets, meteor showers etc.

I use it often at work to see when stuff will be rising that night or the next morning, so I can plan my observing/imaging sessions.

[ving (David)]

I use that too ice, its pretty good

isnt saturn in gemini atm?

[iceman (Mike)]

yeh it forms a line with castor and pollux atm, really easy to find.

[rumples riot]

What time does Gemini rise? I have been out at 130am and have not seen gemini at that time and am too lazy to get up at 4.00 to image Saturn.

Paul

[mch62 (Mark)]

I have gemini rising at about 9.00pm in SE QLD.
m35 & cr89 in gemini will be at about 24deg alt at about 11.00pm
with Saturn just 8 degs up at that time.
Gemini is in the NE at 50degs azimuth.
Regards Mark

[rumples riot]

Thanks for the heads up Mark, have set the scope up tonight and hope to image if the High altitude cloud will disappear. The reason why I asked is that I dont want to have to go to the trouble of setting up the scope to determine where Gemini is. The scope will tell me all the details I need, but the bottom line is I am too lazy to set the scope up early in the morning. The beast needs to be in an observatory, and I have one on the drawing board.

Paul

[mch62 (Mark)]

I know what you mean .
I have my post hole started for my observatory .
It is going to be 3m X 3.3 m with the floor elevated 1.2m of the ground and a one piece sliding roof as a single gable .
It can be a pain literally when you have to lug a big scope out only to have the clouds roll in a short time later .
My biggest grudge is polar alining ever time , although i have become good at it , it will be nice just to walk out roll the roof off turn the power on and start observing .
I intend to take some pics for the forum of the progress.
Mark

Have you tried the charting program.

[ving (David)]

Originally posted by rumples riot
What time does Gemini rise? I have been out at 130am and have not seen gemini at that time and am too lazy to get up at 4.00 to image Saturn.

Paul

I'll see if I can get it to rise earlier for you

[iceman (Mike)]

That'd be great Ving.. also if you could stop the sun rising for another 30-60 minutes I'd be most appreciative!

[ving (David)]

I'll see what I can do... do you want tme to do something bout the moon?

[iceman (Mike)]

While you're there, may as well.. It'd be good if it rose at night this week so I could test out the ToUcam!

[ving (David)]

but I dont want the destroyer of DSOs out