by Dave North
Randy, I was also out Saturday (at Fremont Peak -- near San Juan Bautista California for those who don't live around here) with a similar telescope: a 12.5-inch with a smallish secondary (2.1") that started its life as an Orion.
There were probably only about 20 people there, which is about par for the course in winter when the weather looks like it might not turn out.
Mostly, the sky was clear until a bit before ten except for a short time after 7pm, so there was nearly three hours of completely clear sky. It clouded up the second time and I left, but for all I know it cleared again.
The seeing was highly variable. For short stretches it would be very good, then go to very bad, then back. It was travelling from west to east, so it was possible to catch the good period on Jupiter, and as it started to fail, race over to Saturn and use it again!
I caught the Jovian moon transit very nicely, and was able to get one of my best views this year of the white ovals trailing the Red Spot. However, the jitters in the seeing were more troubling on Jupiter than Saturn, so the latter was my favorite planetary view of the night.
I've been spending quite a bit of time lately with smaller scopes (partly because they behave themselves better in troubled seeing, and partly because I've been "tuning" the 12.5 and just recently started getting top notch views again). It's been very enlightening to start bringing some heavy glass to the party again -- and it's particularly rewarding on Saturn.
The first thing I noticed was how many moons are easily seen. Next, the creamy color of the planet and the banding visible. But of course the real clincher is the amount of detail in the rings.
The last time I dragged it up to The Peak I was astounded to grow confused trying to count how many distinct ring regions I could see (no, I didn't nab the A-ring gap, but the "smudge" is so easy this year it's become an old friend).
Both planets have been so interesting this year. I just wish we had more clear evenings with at least reasonable seeing, but that has not been the case.
Still, though it was a shortish night, it was longer than most movies, and more rewarding too.
San Jose, California