1h ago I was observing Saturn with my scope. The atmosphere was very good and Saturn was razor sharp at 416x and 453x. The storms have developed into two rows and they were very obvious and bluish white in colour. I could see a few brighter spots in these two rows of storms that seem to extend round the circumference of Saturn.
Other than such a fantastic view of Saturn, the most amazing thing was at 416x with the tiny field of view using my Pentax 3.8XP eyepiece there was a satellite that drifted across Saturn! It was a dot initially then when it drifted to just east of Saturn, it uncloaked itself!!! It is probably due to the rotation of the solar panels such that there was specular reflection from the sun. I could see the satellite really clearly for maybe 3 seconds. It was pretty large in angular size especially since it was at 416x. I could see the solar panels and body clearly and it was gold in colour!! Simply amazing! I really could not believe my eyes! I have seen satellites using few hundred times magnification in the past but never once I saw a satellite in such detail. It was way more sharp and detailed than ISS (which is way bigger in size) when I saw it years ago through a C5 at about 40x magnification.
I think about 2 years ago, similar fashion I saw a retro reflection bright spot near Saturn for about a second. It had been a real puzzle for me...from this experience it could have been a very distant satellite or maybe a probe orbiting Saturn.
Most Amazing sight!
- Canopus Lim
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Most Amazing sight!
AstroDuck
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- Canopus Lim
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Haa.. the probability of such a thing occurring is really low. It is really rare to even see a satellite drift across the FOV at such high magnification and smallish FOV, let alone drift across Saturn and at the same time rotating to such an exact angle to see the specular (mirror) reflection out of it with tremendous details and at the same time with Saturn at the backdrop!
I have seen a few times meteors appearing in telescope FOV and binoculars FOV but this is really something!
I have seen a few times meteors appearing in telescope FOV and binoculars FOV but this is really something!
AstroDuck
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- wucheeyiun
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Nice! In the last few decades of observing, I had seen satellites, plane and even a distant bird transit across a planet while observing. Another interesting effect is when you observe a meteor shooting directly at your line-of-sight. I have seen that naked eye, through binoculars and through a telescope several times, it can be quite stunning!
Richard Low