Jenno’s Ool

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Telescopic Goodness

With a rare combination of not-too-cold temperatures and not-too-cloudy skies last night we decided to pull the telescope out and do some observing. Saturn was in opposition last night so it was our main target; though by no means our ONLY target. Our summer observing spot isn't available in the winter as it turns into a snow mobile route so we set up off our back steps.

Jon was able to do a fairly quick alignment once we got the 'scope levelled out and Saturn jumped into view. It was small but the rings were clearly visible as were at least two of its moons. The longer I looked at Saturn the more definition I could see in the rings to the point I could see the space between the rings and the planet's surface (but not the Cassini Division). I got so excited about Saturn that, without checking the time first, I knocked on our neighbour's door so they could also see . Fortunately everyone was up (it was after 10 pm, but not by much) and they were eager to come out and sky watch with us.

After Saturn, Jon pointed the telescope at various different points: the moon, the Pleiades, Mars and the Orion Nebula. We tried for the Rosette Nebula but couldn't find it. I always love looking at the Pleiades but last night the real winner for me was the Orion Nebula! We tried out one of the nebula filters I got Jon for Christmas and the view was magnificent: I'm still in awe this morning. My first thought was: "It looks like an angel with up-stretched wings." The second thought was: "I can't wait till it's warm enough for me to sit out here with my sketch pad and drawing materials!"

I thought I wanted to draw mainly the moon and other large bodies, but after last night, nebulae are now on my list too! So much stuff, too cold to sit out for hours yet! Fortunately our telescope is a good "jack of all trades" tool and can lend itself fairly easily to all sorts of observing. This is good and I can foresee a lot of late nights in the summer!

Jon's post on last night's observing can be found here.

Labels: astronomy, nebulae, Saturn, telescope

Posted by Jennifer at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)