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| HST Image - NASA |
Friday night I ventured out to my semi-dark site at Bar-X for our monthly club stargaze. While it was a disappointing show for the club, with only one other member attending, it was a good night for sky watching.
The "star" of the night was Saturn. Those that know me, know that I am not a big planetary observer. However, I always turn the scope to one or two of these heavenly orbs every time out, usually during the alignment process or just while waiting for full darkness to arrive.
Towards the end of the night, Saturn was positioned with Virgo, high in the sky in an area where there was absolutely fantastic seeing conditions. I turn the scope onto it just to check it out before packing up for the night. Wow!
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| 60mm Refractor |
Friday was the first time that I had seen the ringed gas giant through my new scope, the Celestron CPC800. The image was incredibly crisp. I pushed the magnification up to 330X with my 12.5 mm eyepiece and a 2X barlow. The detail of the rings was amazing! The dark division in the ring was clearly visible and the planet took up nearly 30 percent of the field of view in the eyepiece.
Never before, has the image of Saturn been as big in the eyepiece as it was Friday night, nor was it as clear. This was a true testament to the quality of my new Celestron. In the future, when the sky conditions permit, I will definitely make more time in my observing plan for Saturn and its heavenly siblings.
Clear skies;
rw
