Stephen Kennedy's Rants

I went out very late last night to have a quick peek at the skies before heading off to bed. I usually do this everynight. It was about 3:30 AM and the half moon was high in the sky but I could see what looked like a little star very close to the moon. I went back in grabbed my little quick set up portable scope (A Skywatcher Short Tube 80 MM refractor) and quickly attached it to my photo tripod. Grabbed a diagonal and Vixen 24 – 8mm eyepiece and had a look.

What a beautiful site, it was not a star at all but Saturn. In my wide field view on this little scope I could see the moon surface clearly and then the small rings of Saturn. I spent about 15 minutes zooming in on the moon and then the planet until the clouds started rollig in.

Really wish I could have set up a camera and grabbed an image but that would have taken too long. Still it was a beautiful site to see.

Stephen