Whose afraid of Saturns Moons? :)

by Jeff Gortatowsky

I saw Mimas in the 11 inch Starmaster last Saturday night around 11pm local 7:00UT. Awesome seeing and from my driveway to boot! I diagrammed it the moons. Enceladus I could hold with direct vision, Mimas I glimpsed, sketched, and verified later on indoors. This with a 9mm Nagler and an AP Barcon for around 280x. Like I said, great night. Tegem was almost easy. My software said AB is 1.01". But I could only elongate Porrima.

Took 7 inch Teleport down to the pool and after seeing what a great night we were having. I had to get on my knees to look at Jupiter in Libra at about 7:30UT. I used a Celestron 7mm Ortho (Vintage Circle-T type) for 144x.

Observing Jupiter reminded me why I call my Teleport 7 an "180mm f/5.6 APO". The festoons hanging from the NEB were almost like a half circle, bridging across the meridian from the southern edge of the NEB. Seriously amazing. The detail was more than I could make out stooping on my knees! It is true you need to be comfortable to see the most detail and that means a stand or table for the diminutive Teleport. I turned it to Saturn and was able to make out Enceladus. Sweet.

Remember we are talking a driveway in Los Angles County (though I must say, La Habra Heights is the only city in L.A. I am aware of with no street lights and lighting ordinances).

Posted on sf-bay-tac Mar 27, 2006 21:09:32 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.4 Mar 27, 2006 21:45:04 PT

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