Saturn w/ New 8" F7 Planetary Newtonian

Name: Curt Diggs
Observing Site: Home (near Dallas, GA)
Observing Date: 2/18/07
Observing Time: 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 8
Equipment: Home built 8" F7 Planetary Newtonian on GEM mount

Seeing was good to excellent with slight to moderate atmospheric turbulence. The transparency was excellent.

I spent about an hour observing Saturn at various powers to get an idea of this new scope's limits and capabilities as a planetary-type scope. The mounting is inadequate (an older GEM from an 8" SCT on a home-built pedestal base) and previous attempts had been frustrated by wind-caused vibration. This evening was relatively still so I was able to get long periods of
observation with a steady image.

Saturn's rings were easily resolved at even the lowest powers (55x) and the Cassini division became resolvable at around 100x. The highest power I can get currently with my eyepieces and Barlow combination is 300x. This proved to be too much magnification and turbulence seriously disturbed the image (turbulence is magnified right along with the image under observation). The ideal power turned out to be 200x which was achieved by using the 14mm ED and a 2x Barlow.

I set my observing stool up and was able to spend long minutes at the eyepiece in a relatively relaxed and unstrained position. I believe this contributes significantly to the ability to pull the finer details out.

Although Cassini's division was almost always resolved and clear, finer planetary details would go in and out as the atmospheric turbulence came and went. Over the course of about an hour, I got several 5 to 10 second periods when the turbulence almost completely stopped. The views of Saturn during those brief periods made the long waits between them totally worthwhile.

I hate to use the (overused) term "Hubblesque" to describe the images but that thought passed through my head as the image cleared and much of the subtle detail seen in Hubble photographs of Saturn popped out. The crepe ring began very obvious which I had seen before but had never seen the color (reddish brown) and the fine demarcation lines in the set of rings just outward from the crepe ring. These were only visible for a few seconds but were unmistakeable.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the operation of the new scope except for the mounting. The old GEM is just not up to the long F7 tube so a new, sturdier mount is under construction.

A Night at Camp Sydney Dew

Observing Site: Camp Sidney Dew (AKA Boy Scout Camp)
Observing Date: 2/10/2007
Observing Time: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Seeing: 10 (the best)
Transparency: 10 (the best)
Equipment: Binoculars, and a Monoscope

This Saturday was a very great night for viewing. I saw things like Orion, Orion nebula, M45, Venus, Saturn, Meteors, and satellites. These objects were very clear in the sky. It was a little cold outside. But it was worth it. Also I had some of my friends come out there as well they were also amazed at what they saw. Most of them were looking at Saturn. Why? Because this was the night that Saturn was at its opposition. This means that even with a small scope you should be able to see Saturn's rings. Overall this was a great night of viewing.

Isaiah Short
A Student at Rome Middle School

Where's the Horsehead?

Date: 2/10/07

Time: 10:00PM - 12:00AM

Place: Earth 'n' Sky Farm, Calhoun, GA

Seeing: 8

Transparency: 8

Equipment: LX200 Classic 10" & LX200GPS 10"

Last night, Ron Niklasson and I were under some awesome skies. Transparency couldn't have been better, and the seeing was incredible. Even Sirius was perfectly steady. With Orion high in the sky, we decided to see if we could find the horsehead nebula. With this object only being 6' x 4', we really were not sure where to look. So, we broke out the maps, compared the views in our eyepieces, and after about 20 minutes, we now think we know where it is. If you are using a goto scope, and if your alignment and pointing accuracy are pretty good, the following should direct you right to the horsehead nebula. But, beware, this is a tough one to see. With our 10" scopes, we could not bag this one.

For us, the belt of Orion was really close to horizontal. Keep that in mind if you use our notes for locating the horsehead. After doing a goto, you should see three faint stars in a diagonal line. (Note: these three stars are not the belt of Orion) In our Meade LX200's that is a reversed field so the stars were lined up from upper right to lower left. The upper most and lowest of these three were just on the opposing edges of a 1/2° field of view. Using the middle and lowest stars, imagine a line that connects the two stars to make a right triangle. The right angle of this triangle will be below the second star and right of the third star. The location of this right angle is the general location of the horsehead nebula.

Keep in mind that you're looking for a 6' x 4' object. In a 1/2° FOV the longer part of the horsehead will be just shy of 1/4 of your FOV. We were able to make out a very faint bit of nebulosity, but were unable to detect the horsehead. Maybe another night. If you can further refine these notes, please submit a note to the observation page of our website.

Eric Smith