On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 8:31 AM, Chris Trask <christrask@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Saturn is tough work. The size of the image produced by a 1000mm scope
is roughly 0.006-0.008" at the focal plane. The angular diameter of
Saturn is only about 15-20" of arc.
I saw it decades ago with a cheap Gilbert 4" reflector with a
cardboard tube and a polished metal mirror. You could just make out the
rings as it was tilted at an angle that made them easy to see. I might get
to see the broader rings of Jupiter, according to the 60mm folks, or at
least the larger moons. But you need dry air and no upper atmosphere winds
(reduced scintilation) to be able to do that.
The sky was clear last night, but the higher altitude moisture and
pollution created a haze that obscured all but the brightest stars. The up
side is that the relative humidity was less than 10%, the dew point was
33F, and the morning temperature was down to 80F.
Everything I'm hearing and reading makes it sound like the only time you
can really see anything decent is in the middle of winter, when it's 20
below. None of you are making this sound like fun... :-)