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Saturn's rings

Discussion in 'Observing Celestial Objects' started by Pleiades, Sep 20, 2017.

Saturn's rings

Started by Pleiades on Sep 20, 2017 at 5:40 PM

4 Replies 1044 Views 1 Likes

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  1. Pleiades

    Pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Pleiades, Sep 20, 2017
    #1
    As dusk set in, right before the clouds ruined viewing. I had a magnificent experience. I saw the very sharp rings of Saturn. I saw them once before, but they were fuzzy. This was probably due to the conditions more than anything, but it lead to the purchase of a 15mm Celestron Omni Plossl. Just a short while ago, after cursing at my finderscope, I found Saturn. First with the 40mm SvBonny, which is slowly growing on me. Then I switched to the 15mm. No I could clearly make out the beautiful ring. Not the Cassini division. That might be a scope away.
    But tonight, I feel as though I have seen something fit for the eyes of Kings and Gods. Absolutely stunning. It's been a good night.
     
    Orion25 likes this.
  2. Pleiades

    Pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Pleiades, Sep 21, 2017
    #2
  3. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Sep 21, 2017
    #3
    I don't think that ‘Agena 1.25" Enhanced Wide Angle Eyepiece - 9mm’ is technically an Erfle as it has a drawtube negative lens.

    x1.jpg

    They're actually made by Barsta and often sold as the Orion Expanse, although they are sold under a lot of names both sides of the Atlantic.

    x2.jpg

    The eye relief is quite long and they can seriously kidney bean or even blackout if the eye placement isn't quite right. It's a bit of a learning curve to get used to these.

    x3.jpg

    They are OK as a low power wide angle EP and I liked using my Expanse on my ST80 before I customised it with a 2" Monorail/Crayford focuser. They are pretty sharp to the edge with no real aberrations IIRC.

    x5.jpg
    x5.jpg

    You can see the negative Smyth lens above left, the actual field lens (right) is quite large. f you want a 9mm planetary eyepiece I'd go for something like the Sky-Watcher UWA.

    SW UWA 9mm.jpg

    These are 58° and orthoscopic sharp. Much better planetary eyepieces than the Expanse. Plus, you really need to view Saturn nearer opposition, it's late in the year now in the northern hemisphere. I got an easy 225x this opposition, in fact I'm pretty sure I saw the Seeliger Effect, I still say I could have pushed it to 250x lol.

    https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-uwa-planetary-eyepieces.html
     

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  4. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Mak the Night, Sep 21, 2017
    #4
    Hmmm ... I don't know what happened there ...

    George! There are still gremlins! lol
     
  5. Pleiades

    Pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Pleiades, Sep 21, 2017
    #5
    Great to know.
     

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