Early Saturn

Early Saturn

On a warm summer night in June, 1980, I set up a borrowed 3-inch f/15 achromatic refractor in the parking lot at Perkins Observatory, near Delaware, Ohio. At this point, I had only been observing for just a couple of months and almost everything I looked at was new.

Many new comers to amateur astronomy get to marvel at the amazing sight of Saturn and it's glorious rings. But in the summer of 1980, Saturn was tilted so the rings appeared edge on from Earth. Thus, this very early drawing of a planet, though the 3-inch refractor shows only a ball with a dark line - the narrow shadow of the rings and two moons.

While the 3-inch only showed the shadow, in the observatory, the very fine 32-inch f/15 cassegrain reflector showed the rings as a hair thin line that appeared to streak across the field of view. Shortly after this observation, I would join the US Navy and spent most of the next five years ship board. I observed from the ship, but only at low powers. It would be several years before I finally got a good, high power view of Saturn in all it's ringfull glory.

These observations were made with a borrowed telescope and eyepieces... "fancy" 25 and 18mm Ramsden lenses that had come stock with a Criterion Dynascope RV-6 reflector. Today, few amateurs would consider using such an eyepiece, but really, they were quite nice.

Another early lesson here. Don't try to draw in pen!

For the full story, see:
http://www.ladyandtramp.com/images/astroimages/early_saturn.jpg