Observing Reports
October 2004
-3rd October 2004-
-Report-
At last the skies were looking quite clear, with some cloud along the horizon.
I got up at 1am and started to gather my things for a quick of the sky and hopefully Saturn. Set things up at around 1:30am and it started to pore with rain, you can just imagine me, standing there in a field with my scope waiting for the rain to stop, heehee.
Cloud cover was still quite heavy when I eventually went out, but the Moon was up and very bright above me. The view was amazing and seemed so much sharper than any other time I had viewed the Moon. Turbulence was down to a minimum and I managed to view at x200, using my 6mm and 2x Barlow gave great close ups. Seems it really is best to view when things have cooled down, I can’t wait for winter.
Managed to finally locate Saturn and even though it was very near the horizon I could make out the shape well. I have been waiting for this moment for ages and am so glad I got up early. Although the image was not that great, I think I managed to see Titan as well, can’t wait for Saturn to get higher to really appreciate this amazing planet. The only problem I had was that there were a lot of clouds along the horizon which obscured the view almost all the time.
I managed to get some great images of the Moon, which I have posted on Cloudy Nights and I’ll upload them to my website soon.
Clear Skies!
Thanks