Surprise Saturn Observation

by Mark Wagner

At Houge Park Friday night, Saturn was certainly something everyone looked at in their scopes. I did. Last around 10 I was out back in my downtown San Jose location, and set up my 10" f/5.7 CPT again, for more views. Some neighbors who had never looked at it through a scope before saw it, and had the typical "O-M-G" reaction. Always fun.

Friday night while I was poking around for other objects to view, I spent some time looking for the Beehive, but failed in the bright night to see it just scanning around with my eyes. I finally gave up and went on to other targets. But last night, out back, I was surprised when looking in my 9x60 finder to recenter Saturn, there it was, the Beehive, in the same wide field view. I realized I hadn't noted before how close Saturn would pass to it. In a real rich field telescope, one might get a great view of both objects in the same field - maybe. I am also wondering if there are any imaging opportunities with this pairing?

Posted on sf-bay-tac Jan 22, 2006 11:17:37 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 02, 2006 21:29:00 PT