by Jane Houston Jones
I wanted to try and see the star GSC 1324-2107 as the rings of Saturn passed in front of it. I found the information on the website
http://www.arksky.org/saturn_stellar_occn.htm
to be very helpful and informative. I liked the table of timings and the simulated images..
I started out by figuring where the planet would appear on the horizon at my location at the star's first disappearance. It was definately behind houses and trees from my front deck, so I picked up my f/5 6-inch Pierre Schwaar reflector, Red Dwarf and walked up the street until I could see the planet. I only had to go to the next driveway which is on higher ground. I set up the telescope hoping noone would want to drive away during hte next hour. I kneeled on a gardening kneepad and reacquired my balance and then located Saturn in the Telrad. Then I looked at it through a 6mm Zeiss Abbe Ortho at 125X. Saturn was quite nice to look at, even at the low elevation. I could see some of the features on the disk and I could make out the Cassini division.
It wouldn't be easy to keep the planet in the eyepiece of an alt/az reflector at higher power, but it would have been more difficult to move an equatorial mounted refractor to the neighbor's driveway after midnight, so I did the former, got as comfortable as I could kneeling on the pavement and took a look beginning at 11:45 PST or 7:45 UT. I spotted Titan, Mimas, Tethys, Dionne and Rhea, which suggested to me that I should be able to see the mag 10 star. I spotted the star right after I identifies the moons. It was close to the planet but soon I lost it in the glare of the rings. I can't say I saw it disappear at 8:08:45 but I was looking then. I lost it a few minutes before that.
I kept observing Saturn as the projected timings of the events ticked by on the clock. No way did I see the reappearance of the star in the Encke division at 8:13:20 UT. But I was looking then, and before and after, too.
I thought there might be a chance for me to see the star as it passed behind the Cassini Division. I could see the Cassini Division in the small scope, in the 6mm ZAO and also in a higher power 3.8 Orion Lanthanum at 197X. But I did not see the star there at the time frame of 8:31:43 to 8:35:58. I gave myself plenty of time on both ends of the timeframe but never saw so much as a flicker. Oh well!
Now I had 50 minutes to wait for the planet to move enough for the star to appear at its next location. At 9:18 UT, which was 2:18 a.m. local time the star might appear between B ring and the Saturnian disk. I amused myself during this interval. I surprised our cats with my nocturnal presence during their hunt for wildlife through the living room and dining room. They were not amused, but insisted on a tummy rub anyway. Then I moved the small 6-inch reflector to the back deck for a look at the moon. There is something exquisitely peaceful about staying up when most of the local universe is sleeping. The quiet was only slightly interupted by a family of deer heading down the deer trail illuminated by moonlight.
As 2:18 UT neared, I located Saturn in the Telrad of Stardust, my f/7.3 10-inch homemade (by me) dob reflector on the deck. I slipped a 10mm Zeiss Abbe Ortho in the chrome plated brass tube focuser for a 185x look at Saturn. Then I switched to the 6mm ZAO for 309X. It was magnificently steady, clear, dark and 70 degrees outside. I couldn't have asked for better conditions from my urban observing location.
For the next 15 minutes I looked for the star in the space between rings and disk. Only once did I suspect a flash of starlight there. Maybe I saw the star, maybe I didn't. I observed the area until 9:35 UT, fully five minutes past the disappearance time.
I can't say I am dissappointed at not seeing all these occultation events. I have not had much luck with occultations, no matter how hard I try. Saturn was low when the occultation started and now it is higher but occulted by neighborly pine trees. But it was a great night to be alone with the universe anyway.
It made me fondly recall those nights in 1997 when I set this same homemade f/7.3 10-inch dob on this same deck before I went to bed. Alarm ringing loudly, my eyes opened in the pre-dawn hours. Then I stumbled out the front door, to be truly awakened by the view of Comet Hale Bopp every morning. I was thrilled then at what I saw through my telescope and I had the same thrill this morning.
Good morning everyone!