Post by martinastro on May 22, 2007 21:17:46 GMT
I got ready for this event at 19.00 BST when I set up two telescopes in the backgarden. The ETX 90mm on a photographic tripod at 48X and the 8.5" F/7 dobsonian. At this stage the sky was completely overcast with grey altocumulus cloud then suddenly clear sky appeared on the western horizon and began drifting my way. In no time the sky was clear and Sun was bright. Looking up into the high SW I could see the white first quarter Moon. I phoned John Mc Connell who was clouded out and during the conversation I centred the Moon in the ETX. I was shocked to immediately see the ball of Saturn and the rings with such ease. This was my first daylight sighting of the ringed planet. John could hear my excitement over the phone. I switched to the dobsonian and could see both the Moon and Saturn in the low power field however Saturn was much more difficult so I inserted a 12mm orthoscopic eyepiece which darkened the background blue sky and made Saturn jump out from the sky in high contrast detail. Its overall colour was cream white however the ball had a yellow tinge and revealed subtle detail and shading. The rings were easy and glorious even with the Sun in the sky.
Clear sky arrived for John so we ended the chat and got down to business. Watching carefully as the invisible dark limb of the Moon crept up on Saturn I was shocked to see a dark edge suddenly cut a diagonal line across the ball and rings - the occultation had begun and it was early. My wrist watch told me it was 19.58 GMT. The occultation happened very swiftly and in what seemed like 30 seconds the planet was wiped from the sky by the eastward drifting Moon. It was amazing!!! A text message informed me that John had seen it also with just minutes to spare.
At 20.45 I began watching for the reappearance of Saturn. Carefully scanning the white cratered southern highlands of the Moon I studied the limb with growing anticipation and excitement. At 21.04 (or earlier) I seen a marvellous sight. Jutting upward from the limb was the pale and what seemed like transparent white - blue tip of Saturns rings rising from the Moon's edge like a whale emerging from the surface of the ocean. At this time my mum came out and I let her watch Saturn creep fully into view and seperate from the limb which completely amazed her. She had never seen the rings of Saturn before but now she seen them for the first time in her life beside the Moon in broad daylight!! Needless to say she hogged the eyepiece for a long time before I got a chance to see it again myself. The neighbours and a passing police car gave us some strange looks!
The event was a complete and utter success and all under a wonderful clear sky. I took a few hand held shots with the camera held to the eyepiece and since I couldn't see anything on the LCD screen due to the glare from the sky I just blindly snapped away. As you can see the images are very poor and not well focused (not my fault though) but I did capture what the scene was like for the record. A splendid session! A final text from John told me that he had seen and recorded a series of AVI so I hope he got a result.
Can you see the ring tip here? (arrowed)...
Clear sky arrived for John so we ended the chat and got down to business. Watching carefully as the invisible dark limb of the Moon crept up on Saturn I was shocked to see a dark edge suddenly cut a diagonal line across the ball and rings - the occultation had begun and it was early. My wrist watch told me it was 19.58 GMT. The occultation happened very swiftly and in what seemed like 30 seconds the planet was wiped from the sky by the eastward drifting Moon. It was amazing!!! A text message informed me that John had seen it also with just minutes to spare.
At 20.45 I began watching for the reappearance of Saturn. Carefully scanning the white cratered southern highlands of the Moon I studied the limb with growing anticipation and excitement. At 21.04 (or earlier) I seen a marvellous sight. Jutting upward from the limb was the pale and what seemed like transparent white - blue tip of Saturns rings rising from the Moon's edge like a whale emerging from the surface of the ocean. At this time my mum came out and I let her watch Saturn creep fully into view and seperate from the limb which completely amazed her. She had never seen the rings of Saturn before but now she seen them for the first time in her life beside the Moon in broad daylight!! Needless to say she hogged the eyepiece for a long time before I got a chance to see it again myself. The neighbours and a passing police car gave us some strange looks!
The event was a complete and utter success and all under a wonderful clear sky. I took a few hand held shots with the camera held to the eyepiece and since I couldn't see anything on the LCD screen due to the glare from the sky I just blindly snapped away. As you can see the images are very poor and not well focused (not my fault though) but I did capture what the scene was like for the record. A splendid session! A final text from John told me that he had seen and recorded a series of AVI so I hope he got a result.
Can you see the ring tip here? (arrowed)...
