Saturn is nearing Opposition, and is looking good all night long now…So go out and look it low in the South, Saturn is only ~ 21 degrees above my Southern Horizon in Dayton, Ohio, but still looks great in a telescope.
Here is another Shot this time Close-up of Saturn with the (11th magnitude Icy Geyser moon) Enceladus ,captured on 06-09-2017 from my backyard Observatory in Dayton, Ohio.
I used a Televue 5x Barlow & QHY5IIL Cmos Camera attached to my old orange tube C8, testing the magnification limits of my little 8 inch diameter scope.
The exposure times were longer than usual through RGB filters, as Saturn got very dim when magnifying that much with the 5x Barlow. I can only do this on nights of decent stable seeing, but it was cool to see it fill my screen.
Not bad for being so low on the Horizon and for an object that is 1.275 billion km or ~ 792 million miles away.
Saturn rises after dark in the South East each night, but is at its highest point in the South by about 2:00am …look for that bright Yellow Star due South.
I hope we get many more stable seeing nights during this Saturn Observing Season!
Best Regards,
John Chumack
