Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Clear Skies Didn't Last

A bit after sunset, I was able to get Big Bertha collimated and aimed at Saturn--and the new focuser really makes a difference. The fine focus knob let me bring Saturn in to a very sharp focus at 222x. It still isn't quite as sharp as the 5" refractor, because fundamentally, Big Bertha's mirror is only so-so, but still, I could see at least one cloud band on the planet itself. Cassini's Division was only visible at the ansae of the rings, partly because Saturn was still not terribly high in the sky.

Then the clouds came in. Maybe I'll get lucky tonight.

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