USER OBSERVATIONS Last updated: 27 July 2002

Saturn and M1 Observations with the ETX-105EC

Subject:	Saturn / M1 Conjunction
Sent:	Wednesday, July 24, 2002 22:39:46
From:	Bruce.Dickson@mhs7.tns.co.za (Dickson, Bruce)
Hmmm.
got up at 04h20, was outside by 04h35, and awake by 05h00. Saturn rose
above my horizon just as I started to get my wits together, so that was
well timed.

The seeing near my horizon was dreadful, and the Cassini division was
not discernable in my ETX 105, although I was able to split Rigel
easily. I could see (at least) 3 moons of Saturn. M1 is on the limits of
visibility in dark skies, so I wasn't too hopeful.

Using averted vision, I (may have) glimpsed M1 about half a field of
view away from Saturn using a 12 mm eyepiece - i.e. roughly 15 mins of
arc separation. Saturn was south of M1. The moonlight coupled with high
altitude cloud didn't help.

"The Sky" claimed that Saturn would be within 1.5 mins of M1, so I'm not
sure whether what I saw was floaters, artefacts caused by the light
cloud cover, or my imagination. It could also have been M1.

Clear skies

Bruce
bdickson@mweb.co.za

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