Saturn

Most of the objects I've been looking at in the night skies are star clusters or nebulae. This hasn't really interested my son Simon very much.

Tonight though, we went out looking at Saturn and the 120ST proved itself on the ringed planet very nicely. First we checked it out at 46x with the 13mm Ethos and then tried again at about 140x with my 4.3mm Antares eyepiece. Both images were very sharp, although focusing at 140x was tough.

Mostly I was pleased to try out the 80mm stop down mask I had built and was very pleased that I saw no color fringing at all with the mask on. It is likely that I would see more color if the sky was darker. I think the light pollution actually helps keep the color down because the object is not as relatively bright as it would be otherwise.

I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't see any planetary detail, though. It was just a white disc with the rings at a very sharp angle. Simon thought it rocked, though. He was jumping up and down. He loves the planets so much that they have actually been elevated to the status of "imaginary friend" (he is 7 years old) and he holds them very dear. It was quite something for him to see the real, live Saturn in the sky with his own eyes.

So, I'm pleased so far with how the 120ST is working on the planets. I'm toying with the idea (some day, not soon) of getting a different sort of telescope just for the planets, but I'm not sure what that one would be yet. Something to think about...

If you're curious, here is a YouTube video that shows that Saturn looks like through a small telescope. The only difference between this video and what I saw tonight is that the image in my scope was totally white, with no yellow / orange tinting. Oh, and the angle of the rings was much sharper as well, and nearly edge on. They will, in fact, be seen edge on from the Earth in early September of this year, before gradually coming to a maximum angle about 18 years from now. (I think it will take 18 years. I pulled that number from memory but will have to verify it to make sure.)