Friday, March 20, 2009

Venus and Saturn

With Venus quickly moving towards inferior conjunction and each day setting closer to the Sun, I took the opportunity to observe its waning crescent. I could not use the telescope because it was too low for the scope from my observing location, but through my 15x70 binoculars the crescent was clearly visible in the twilight.

Later, at about 21:30 local time (20:30 UTC), I observed Saturn through my 200mm dobson telescope. I went for a magnification of x200 using my 6mm eyepiece. The rings are almost edge on but I could still see the very narrow gap between the rings and the planet. Of the moons, I could easily see Titan immediately to the East of the planet, and Rhea further out. Dione was faintly visible between them. I did manage to glimpse Tethys just outside the rings' Western tip but I couldn't see Enceladus which should have been just north of Titan.

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