Summer Beehive and Saturn's Edgy Rings!

[Nightspore]

I was set-up with the Titchy Sixty (Altair 60EDF) by around 02:00, Sunday the 9th of June. The Summer Triangle was almost right in front of me. As it was fairly dark I decided on the 2” 31mm Baader Hyperion Aspheric which gave me about 11.6x (just over six arc degrees of true field). The 36mm Aspheric is nice but the 31mm displays a little less edge astigmatism and is physically lighter. I do like the 36mm for objects like Berenice’s Hair and the like. But, you know, variety is the spice of life, right?

 

 

The first thing I found was the Summer Beehive. The jet stream was not doing me any favours so I switched to an Altair 15mm UltraFlat. I know what you’re going to say; what happened to the 19mm Panoptic you’re basically married to? I haven’t divorced the Panoptic, we’re still a very happy couple. Apparently TV did make a 15mm Panoptic at one time, but it wasn’t very successful for some reason.

 

 

The UltraFlat was designed by Mark Ackermann in the USA. APM had the exclusive rights to market them for a couple of years although now they are marketed under a variety of focal lengths and brand names.

 

 

I’ve only used the Altair 15mm UltraFlat and it is very similar in shape and size to the 19mm Panoptic. Its 65° AFOV is slightly smaller than the 19mm Panoptic and its purported 16mm eye relief is a bit long for my preferred 12-13mm. Although if I keep the eyeguard raised it is tolerable. I found a lot of clusters in the Triangle, then switched to Cassiopeia for the Owl Cluster. I could just see its ‘wings’ at the 24x the UltraFlat gives with the 60EDF. 

 

 

As I was in the Queen of Ethiopia’s vicinity I tried for Iota Cass with the SvBony 3-6mm zoom. I could just make out the three stars at 120x.

 

 

At 03:00 BST it was starting to get lighter and I noticed this bright star in a low Aquarius (or at least where the Water Bearer should be). I was actually waiting for Saturn but I didn’t think it would be visible to me at barely 10° above the horizon. Although this was why I originally took the Titchy Sixty/AZ5 combo out, as it is highly portable and easy to reposition, especially if you’re a spaz like me. I just knew this bright star was Saturn, I dunno, call it years of stargazing experience, I mean amateur astrology, *cough*, astronomy. The Titchy’s superb optics didn’t let me down and I could even see Titan as well as the near edge-on rings. I detected some detail on the planetary surface although it was quite faint. Overall I observed at between 90-120x for around 45 mins. As it got too light to observe properly I decided to call it a day. I doubt Saturn’s rings, when completely edge-on, will be visible from the UK. Overall, I’m quite chuffed at seeing my old friend Saturn.

 

I don't know why, but Saturn gave me this C57-D vibe from Forbidden Planet.

 

 

What would Robby the Robot think? 

 

 

[StarHugger]

Nice report, Cool you got the chance !

[Orion25]

Excellent! Saturn definitely has the spaceship vibe going. It will be too close to the sun though when it's completely edge-on. I believe the tilt is currently at 2% and will increase slightly the rest of this year before receding early next year. This summer may be the best apparition actually.

[Nightspore]

27 minutes ago, Orion25 said:

Excellent! Saturn definitely has the spaceship vibe going. It will be too close to the sun though when it's completely edge-on. I believe the tilt is currently at 2% and will increase slightly the rest of this year before receding early next year. This summer may be the best apparition actually.

 

I don't think we're getting a summer this year.

 

 

Damn that jet stream coming from the North Pole!

 

 

Even a young Annie Haslam can't help ...

Edited June 11 by Nightspore

[Orion25]

5 minutes ago, Nightspore said:

 

I don't think we're getting a summer this year.

 

 

Damn that jet stream coming from the North Pole!

 

 

Even a young Annie Hallam can't help ...

Wow, that's a lovely, er, ummm, song!

[Nightspore]

1 minute ago, Orion25 said:

Wow, that's a lovely, er, ummm, song!

 

Yeah, it's difficult to believe she's 77 now.