To locate the planets(or anything else you want) download Stellarium.It's a really cool program you just put your location and the time of the year and it shows you everything.
@TheStarWatchingRock the last i heard, saturn does have s surface. and also, if it didn't, how are the clouds and rings being held in place? in orbit? the center of the planet, the core, spins, thus creating gravity, there for there must be a solid surface on saturn :) otherwise there would be no saturn.
Rotation is not responsible for gravity; the presence of mass is. The gas giants increase in pressure and density as you go deeper into them, and eventually you have a transition from a gas state to a dense fluid-like state. The change is so gradual that there is no surface to speak of. Jupiter and Saturn are theorized to have rocky cores, but the pressure there is many millions times the atmospheric pressure on Earth.
Stars definitely don't have a surface; how do they exist?
@aerodynamic3794 Yes, fairly easily. On a night when the air is steady, you should also be able to see Cassini's division and several of Saturn's moons with that scope.
dobson, right? it really sucks. i am always so upset when i have to move with my 10inch every 15 seconds. I wanted to build an equatorial platform but found out I am too ham-handed... #ß$!/đ[@&
Hey, I just got my very first telescope. Its a Meade NG-70SM, with a 700mm optical length tube and a 70mm objective lens (sorry i'm sure their a better way of saying that). It came with two eye pieces, a 9mm and a 25mm. Anyways, I was wondering what magnification I need to get images like these. Thanks
Mark you callendars April 3rd is opposition this year. I have a 10 inch as well, but am using a really shoddy 6mm and a barlow 2x on 1200mm focal length for 400x and Saturns already looking pretty good. I always hear 300x is the highest in the atmosphere but i consistantly seeing sharp images of saturn at 400 even in light pollution
advice please. im just getting into astronomy and am about to buy a telescope. which is better, refractor or reflector and do i need a big scope to view saturn etc. thanks
@jonahmoffatt It depends on what you want to observe and how much you are willing to spend. The moon and planets show up well in a small refractor, but if you want to see nebulae and galaxies, you will need a large (8" or more) aperture. A Dobosnian style reflector will always be the least expensive for its size, but you will have to pay extra to get a scope that will track the sky (which the scope in this video doesn't do).
@TheStarWatchingRock I heard that you cannot get the color like the picture from NASA if you try to view nebula or galaxy through telescope...all you see is grey images, is that right??
Correct. More light is needed to activate the cones in your retina (which process color). When you view nebulae and galaxies, the light is only enough to activate the rods, so they only appear in greyscale. Stars and planets, however, are bright enough to activate cones, so these do appear in color.
mines about the same size, 400 mag (10 inch telescope, 25mm lense+5x barlo, I also have a 3mm eye piece which makes the same mag, but its not as sharp.. anyway, for some reason when i see it, it looks white, I dont see the tan color.. i see the planet, rings, and several of its moons, but everything is white lol
The scope has a focal length of 1143 mm, and the eyepiece I used was 28 mm. 1143 divided by 28 gives a magnification of about 40x. This would not be enough to see the detail in this video, but the zoom on the camera multiplies that by 12, for a magnification of 480x.
@sct911 All but the very smallest scopes will show you the rings. Seeing more detail depends on a variety of factors. A smaller, high-quality refractor can give as good a visual image as a larger Newtonian reflector. The greatest limitation is the steadiness of the atmosphere, or "seeing". If the air is very unstable, it doesn't matter how big your scope is.
A few hours ago I looked at Saturn for the very first time through my new 8" dobsonian. The view was really nice but Saturn looked very small...it was smaller than a pea in my eyepiece. I was using a 10mm eyepiece with X2 Barlow. I think that gives me a magnification of 240 times.
Is this normal? I couldn't see any cloud features or the Cassini division. But hey, I enjoyed it anyways :)
If the scope is new, the collimation should be good, which will help maximize the detail you can see. How high above the horizon was Saturn? If it's low in the sky, you're looking through a lot of Earth's atmosphere to see it -- that can degrade the image significantly.
Also, if you're just starting to observe, it takes practice to see details. Keep at it, and you'll be able to pick out more and more.
Saturn was high in the sky so that could not have been the problem.I know what you mean about getting some practice. I've only viewed it twice so far.
As far as collimation is concerned...well its a new scope and it came collimated and I haven't even checked it. But I must say the moon was very sharp, I guess that means my 8" Dob is still collimated??
240X should be plenty of magnification. I use a 6.7mm in my XT10 which yields 179X and it looks pretty big, enough to see the rings, ring shadow, a few faint bands and 4 moons. I don't think you'll see the cassini division this year as the rings are only at a 3 dgeree tilt.
@2plus2is9 I looked through a 16 in. reflector ,last weekend and was exspection to see a huge planet, but it wasnt any different than looking through mu Orion 6 in refractor. Most pics we see have been doctored. Made me feel pretty good to know my 1 k scope showed Saturn almost as well as a 20 or 30 k scope.
i got a telecope that costed like $2000 because you add battiers and make it move up down left right and you can select a plantet star on the computer and it will move
Yes -- Saturn appears as a white "star" that shines steadily when viewed without a telescope. It is about as bright as the brightest stars in its region of the sky.
It will be exactly opposite the Sun in the sky on March 21 this year, and will be visible all night then. After that, it will spend the summer as an evening sky object.
this aint no bullshit vid i also have 10 inch dob with sum nice lenses an i got an even crisper veiw even 3 maybe 4 moons with it awsome sight... nice vid mate
sorry to sound negative but i always see people uploading videos about saturn through telescope ect but why dont you people actually record it with the naked eye and then zoom in to show us more proof. no offence but all these videos i have viewed from other people, i have seen the exact same picture on google images
The magnification for the above video/photo is about 300x at its maximum. There is no optical system I know of that can go from naked eye viewing to this magnification. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but a digitial SLR with a telephoto lens will not let you zoom out to magnification 1, correct?
There are a number of programs available for doing so; "Starry Night Pro" and "Stellarium" are among them. If you google for "skyviewcafe" you can find a free planetarium program on-line. You only need a browser to run it.
@looloopeekeesugar A good way is to always look along the ecliptic. But an even faster/easier way is to use a planetary software. I recommend Stellarium, a free, open-source program for Mac or PC.
@bicnarok you dont learn anything from that! much better if u just get info about witch direction the planets are and what time of day/night they appear, then u look for it, thats more fun and u learn more ;D
one day we going to colonize saturn or jupiter moons and then those people will have a view of this giants planets on their skies , i just saw it with programs that simulates skies in other moons or planets and see that in real life will be intimidating i must say :( , i hope i could see that day but i will not , thx for this i love to see the sky at night gonna get my telescope soon :)
There are some good free planetarium programs on the web. Check out "skyviewcafe" for one. You enter your location and the date and time you're interested in, and it generates a star chart for you.
To find Saturn, you can also check out my video on how to find Comet Lulin. The comet isn't there anymore, but Saturn still is.
Wow!! It's still a surprise to me that there is technology designed to see these planets from so far away. I am also impressed with your knowledge of astronomy, thanks for sharing them on YouTube!
We're quite lucky to have it as part of our solar system. Can you imagine what it would be like to live on one of Saturn's moons and have it above you in the sky all the time?
I have a 10" XT10 and just got a 5mm Pentax XW Eyepiece, I can see Saturn VERY bright but not as big as you show in this video towards the end. Any tips? Thx.
Unless you have very stable skies, you probably don't want to magnify it more than that. If you can view it through the 5mm and it doesn't look like it's underwater, you could try a Barlow lens for more magnification. But if the seeing where you are is that good, I know some professional astronomers who will want to build observatories there.
I just watched again to check. You can barely see it in the widest portion of the Registax processed images. It's clearly there on the image I used, so, yes, let's chalk this one up to youtube.
To get the magnification, you need the focal length of the telescope and the focal length of the eyepiece. Divide the telescope focal length by the eyepiece focal length and the result is the magnification.
I remember the first night I took my telescope out and just randomly whizzed my view along the sky before I spotted this odd elliptical looking star. After a little more focusing I noticed it was gone! Adjusting a little more, I found it to be moving. Curiouser still, I managed to get a good fix on it and my heart sank when I first saw rings surrounding the planet known as Saturn.
Hi! I just finished watching all of your videos and wanted to ask if you could explain what Casenis' Division [at 0:23] (I probably didn't spell that right) is, perhaps in a later video, a brief bio on all the planets?.
These pictures are amazing by the way, I had no idea you could see the rings so clearly from Earth!
Thank you! And thanks for the ideas -- Cassini's Division would be better explained in a video, and giving a bit of a profile (maybe in a speed-dating format?) on each planet would be a lot better than just reading stuff from a table.
Even a small telescope will resolve the rings, but it will be trickier this year than any of the previous 14 due to looking at them edge-on.
Right now, Saturn is visible in Leo. If you can find the Big Dipper, look in the direction opposite the way the bowl of the dipper opens. Leo is in that direction. You can create a chart for yourself with free software like SkyViewCafe. Let me know if you need other directions.
Thank you. If you can mount a camera directly on the eyepiece, you'll be doing better than I did. I don't recommend setting up a tripod to have the camera look through the eyepiece (though I was lucky enough to get it to work here).
Someone tell me a good telescope that I could buy to see this!!!!! ):
YewMakeMeLolz 1 week ago
some really good stuff here
jayejayeee 4 weeks ago
brilliant video
SuperDogbrown 1 month ago
This is exactly what I can see with my 3 inch telescope. Funny! Astronomy is something really exciting.
Guilland23 2 months ago
To locate the planets(or anything else you want) download Stellarium.It's a really cool program you just put your location and the time of the year and it shows you everything.
denispkpk 3 months ago
Saturn is so damn pretty, I remember when I saw it for the first time
AccessDenied55 6 months ago
To see it in a book is one thing. To physically see it, even from 1 billion miles away, is incredible
pdoddy12 7 months ago
It's so clear. Is this real?
This is surprising knowing that it is a 10 inch telescope.
MASSEFFECTfan101 8 months ago
@TheStarWatchingRock the last i heard, saturn does have s surface. and also, if it didn't, how are the clouds and rings being held in place? in orbit? the center of the planet, the core, spins, thus creating gravity, there for there must be a solid surface on saturn :) otherwise there would be no saturn.
MrSquareyez 8 months ago
@MrSquareyez
Rotation is not responsible for gravity; the presence of mass is. The gas giants increase in pressure and density as you go deeper into them, and eventually you have a transition from a gas state to a dense fluid-like state. The change is so gradual that there is no surface to speak of. Jupiter and Saturn are theorized to have rocky cores, but the pressure there is many millions times the atmospheric pressure on Earth.
Stars definitely don't have a surface; how do they exist?
TheStarWatchingRock 7 months ago 6
i am so amazed at planets and space as a whole, there is no measurement of how little we know and have seen of space its unbelievable.
IIZODIIAC 9 months ago
Can you see Saturn through a 6-inch reflector telescope?
aerodynamic3794 9 months ago
@aerodynamic3794 Yes, fairly easily. On a night when the air is steady, you should also be able to see Cassini's division and several of Saturn's moons with that scope.
TheStarWatchingRock 9 months ago
dobson, right? it really sucks. i am always so upset when i have to move with my 10inch every 15 seconds. I wanted to build an equatorial platform but found out I am too ham-handed... #ß$!/đ[@&
cvrnda 9 months ago
Hey, I just got my very first telescope. Its a Meade NG-70SM, with a 700mm optical length tube and a 70mm objective lens (sorry i'm sure their a better way of saying that). It came with two eye pieces, a 9mm and a 25mm. Anyways, I was wondering what magnification I need to get images like these. Thanks
WprEmiere1985 1 year ago
Mark you callendars April 3rd is opposition this year. I have a 10 inch as well, but am using a really shoddy 6mm and a barlow 2x on 1200mm focal length for 400x and Saturns already looking pretty good. I always hear 300x is the highest in the atmosphere but i consistantly seeing sharp images of saturn at 400 even in light pollution
norris3531 1 year ago
advice please. im just getting into astronomy and am about to buy a telescope. which is better, refractor or reflector and do i need a big scope to view saturn etc. thanks
jonahmoffatt 1 year ago
@jonahmoffatt It depends on what you want to observe and how much you are willing to spend. The moon and planets show up well in a small refractor, but if you want to see nebulae and galaxies, you will need a large (8" or more) aperture. A Dobosnian style reflector will always be the least expensive for its size, but you will have to pay extra to get a scope that will track the sky (which the scope in this video doesn't do).
TheStarWatchingRock 9 months ago
@TheStarWatchingRock I heard that you cannot get the color like the picture from NASA if you try to view nebula or galaxy through telescope...all you see is grey images, is that right??
hafieq 8 months ago
@hafieq
Correct. More light is needed to activate the cones in your retina (which process color). When you view nebulae and galaxies, the light is only enough to activate the rods, so they only appear in greyscale. Stars and planets, however, are bright enough to activate cones, so these do appear in color.
TheStarWatchingRock 7 months ago
Interesting information. Thanks for the video.
atcnick 1 year ago
Glad to see that Saturns rings are slightly tilted again this year.
krisDM3000 1 year ago
That is incredible!
Will Saturn be visible in 2010, and where do i look?
Jupiter has looked huge in October, easy to spot.
The rings still confuse me, how can they be so perfectly strung around the planet?
I watch planet documentarys on Saturn, but i still don't understans the existence of these perfect rings, it's kind of beautiful, yet creepy.
razorjules 1 year ago
mines about the same size, 400 mag (10 inch telescope, 25mm lense+5x barlo, I also have a 3mm eye piece which makes the same mag, but its not as sharp.. anyway, for some reason when i see it, it looks white, I dont see the tan color.. i see the planet, rings, and several of its moons, but everything is white lol
Snypat 1 year ago
how many mm??????/ please answer
funnygirl532 2 years ago
The scope has a focal length of 1143 mm, and the eyepiece I used was 28 mm. 1143 divided by 28 gives a magnification of about 40x. This would not be enough to see the detail in this video, but the zoom on the camera multiplies that by 12, for a magnification of 480x.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
@TheStarWatchingRock How much did that whole set up run you?
bradlyw420 1 year ago
@TheStarWatchingRock what kinds of a scope would i need to vview saturns rings up close? i mean really get to the planets surface
sct911 1 year ago
@sct911 All but the very smallest scopes will show you the rings. Seeing more detail depends on a variety of factors. A smaller, high-quality refractor can give as good a visual image as a larger Newtonian reflector. The greatest limitation is the steadiness of the atmosphere, or "seeing". If the air is very unstable, it doesn't matter how big your scope is.
TheStarWatchingRock 9 months ago
A few hours ago I looked at Saturn for the very first time through my new 8" dobsonian. The view was really nice but Saturn looked very small...it was smaller than a pea in my eyepiece. I was using a 10mm eyepiece with X2 Barlow. I think that gives me a magnification of 240 times.
Is this normal? I couldn't see any cloud features or the Cassini division. But hey, I enjoyed it anyways :)
2plus2is9 2 years ago
If the scope is new, the collimation should be good, which will help maximize the detail you can see. How high above the horizon was Saturn? If it's low in the sky, you're looking through a lot of Earth's atmosphere to see it -- that can degrade the image significantly.
Also, if you're just starting to observe, it takes practice to see details. Keep at it, and you'll be able to pick out more and more.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
Saturn was high in the sky so that could not have been the problem.I know what you mean about getting some practice. I've only viewed it twice so far.
As far as collimation is concerned...well its a new scope and it came collimated and I haven't even checked it. But I must say the moon was very sharp, I guess that means my 8" Dob is still collimated??
2plus2is9 2 years ago
240X should be plenty of magnification. I use a 6.7mm in my XT10 which yields 179X and it looks pretty big, enough to see the rings, ring shadow, a few faint bands and 4 moons. I don't think you'll see the cassini division this year as the rings are only at a 3 dgeree tilt.
rodneyracoon 2 years ago
@2plus2is9 I looked through a 16 in. reflector ,last weekend and was exspection to see a huge planet, but it wasnt any different than looking through mu Orion 6 in refractor. Most pics we see have been doctored. Made me feel pretty good to know my 1 k scope showed Saturn almost as well as a 20 or 30 k scope.
Iamasexymom 9 months ago
i got a telecope that costed like $2000 because you add battiers and make it move up down left right and you can select a plantet star on the computer and it will move
link1617 2 years ago
WOOHOO ordering a 12" Skywatcher auto-track soon :D
DjRozon 2 years ago
Can I actually see Saturn at 300 x at the picture or did you enlarge it?
DjRozon 2 years ago
The magnification used -- not counting the camera -- is around 40x. I used a 12x setting on the camera for a total magnification of 480x.
I've seen the rings and Titan with as low as 16x in a 4" scope, though.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
Thats a cool video! Is it possible to see Saturn without a telescope? When can we see Saturn in 2010?
Mileylvr009155 2 years ago
Yes -- Saturn appears as a white "star" that shines steadily when viewed without a telescope. It is about as bright as the brightest stars in its region of the sky.
It will be exactly opposite the Sun in the sky on March 21 this year, and will be visible all night then. After that, it will spend the summer as an evening sky object.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
this aint no bullshit vid i also have 10 inch dob with sum nice lenses an i got an even crisper veiw even 3 maybe 4 moons with it awsome sight... nice vid mate
leechilds24 2 years ago
surface?!?!
AHAHAHAHAHAH
Oscar847 2 years ago
Cool video. I saw Saturn through me Meade telescope about 4 months ago.
LotsOfDanger 2 years ago
sorry to sound negative but i always see people uploading videos about saturn through telescope ect but why dont you people actually record it with the naked eye and then zoom in to show us more proof. no offence but all these videos i have viewed from other people, i have seen the exact same picture on google images
PeterTheRipper 2 years ago
The magnification for the above video/photo is about 300x at its maximum. There is no optical system I know of that can go from naked eye viewing to this magnification. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but a digitial SLR with a telephoto lens will not let you zoom out to magnification 1, correct?
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
What do you expect Saturn to look different? The planet isn't changing much.
dcisgnar 2 years ago
4 inch telescope does it help?
abhiabhi4all 2 years ago
Yes, you should be able to see the rings with that.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
What brand scope is this? Orion? Nice pics by the way!
YVX1222 2 years ago
Thanks! see the reply below.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
what is the model of the telescope?
juniortore 2 years ago
It's a Coulter Optical Odyssey 10" f/4.5 Dobsonian reflector.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
how do you locate the planets?
looloopeekeesugar 2 years ago 16
There are a number of programs available for doing so; "Starry Night Pro" and "Stellarium" are among them. If you google for "skyviewcafe" you can find a free planetarium program on-line. You only need a browser to run it.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
when you got a iPod or Iphone then download Starmap (pro)
SBCriss 2 years ago
@looloopeekeesugar
Look for the brighter objects in the sky.
FateMan22 1 year ago
@looloopeekeesugar A good way is to always look along the ecliptic. But an even faster/easier way is to use a planetary software. I recommend Stellarium, a free, open-source program for Mac or PC.
Obama4Prezz 1 year ago
@looloopeekeesugar download stellarium for free, makes it easy.
bicnarok 7 months ago
@bicnarok you dont learn anything from that! much better if u just get info about witch direction the planets are and what time of day/night they appear, then u look for it, thats more fun and u learn more ;D
Xrebells 5 months ago
to bad light pollution dosnt let us see alot of stars.
popeye619 2 years ago
one day we going to colonize saturn or jupiter moons and then those people will have a view of this giants planets on their skies , i just saw it with programs that simulates skies in other moons or planets and see that in real life will be intimidating i must say :( , i hope i could see that day but i will not , thx for this i love to see the sky at night gonna get my telescope soon :)
IKurtC 2 years ago
are you talking about Universe sandbox?
sharinganx12 2 years ago
I love astronomy !
Jiinxey24 2 years ago 44
@Jiinxey24 Astronomy is cool to me becuase there are trillions of possibilities out there.
tori7022 1 year ago
how do you find the planets???
Saggmos95 2 years ago
There are some good free planetarium programs on the web. Check out "skyviewcafe" for one. You enter your location and the date and time you're interested in, and it generates a star chart for you.
To find Saturn, you can also check out my video on how to find Comet Lulin. The comet isn't there anymore, but Saturn still is.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
Thanks! =)
Saggmos95 2 years ago
Stellarium will also tell you where everything is from whatever your vantage point.
nobodyknowsmenow 2 years ago
Wow!! It's still a surprise to me that there is technology designed to see these planets from so far away. I am also impressed with your knowledge of astronomy, thanks for sharing them on YouTube!
BleedingGumsJazz 3 years ago
We're quite lucky to have it as part of our solar system. Can you imagine what it would be like to live on one of Saturn's moons and have it above you in the sky all the time?
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago
Hi there,
I have a 10" XT10 and just got a 5mm Pentax XW Eyepiece, I can see Saturn VERY bright but not as big as you show in this video towards the end. Any tips? Thx.
EasyWolf31 3 years ago
Unless you have very stable skies, you probably don't want to magnify it more than that. If you can view it through the 5mm and it doesn't look like it's underwater, you could try a Barlow lens for more magnification. But if the seeing where you are is that good, I know some professional astronomers who will want to build observatories there.
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago
Cassinis divison is not visible? Or maybe it's just because Youtube degrades the quality of the video..
Lity10 2 years ago
I just watched again to check. You can barely see it in the widest portion of the Registax processed images. It's clearly there on the image I used, so, yes, let's chalk this one up to youtube.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
Sure :P
Lity10 2 years ago
How does the diameter of the eye piece tell you the magnification? What magnification did you use? Thanks.
prayfertrey 2 years ago
To get the magnification, you need the focal length of the telescope and the focal length of the eyepiece. Divide the telescope focal length by the eyepiece focal length and the result is the magnification.
TheStarWatchingRock 2 years ago
I remember the first night I took my telescope out and just randomly whizzed my view along the sky before I spotted this odd elliptical looking star. After a little more focusing I noticed it was gone! Adjusting a little more, I found it to be moving. Curiouser still, I managed to get a good fix on it and my heart sank when I first saw rings surrounding the planet known as Saturn.
Definitely one of my most magical memories.
DamienZshadow 3 years ago
Hi! I just finished watching all of your videos and wanted to ask if you could explain what Casenis' Division [at 0:23] (I probably didn't spell that right) is, perhaps in a later video, a brief bio on all the planets?.
These pictures are amazing by the way, I had no idea you could see the rings so clearly from Earth!
SpottedLabCoat 3 years ago
Thank you! And thanks for the ideas -- Cassini's Division would be better explained in a video, and giving a bit of a profile (maybe in a speed-dating format?) on each planet would be a lot better than just reading stuff from a table.
Even a small telescope will resolve the rings, but it will be trickier this year than any of the previous 14 due to looking at them edge-on.
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago
Haha speed dating! That would be very cool. I'm glad that you think that the profiling is a good idea.
Wow, there is so much about astronomy that I don't know - I love that about science!
SpottedLabCoat 3 years ago
Isn't it great? And the more we study, the more questions there are!
Thanks again for your input -- now I just have to get the videos together.
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago
where in the sky did you find this
rgrainger09 3 years ago
Right now, Saturn is visible in Leo. If you can find the Big Dipper, look in the direction opposite the way the bowl of the dipper opens. Leo is in that direction. You can create a chart for yourself with free software like SkyViewCafe. Let me know if you need other directions.
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago
very nice hope to get good results my self i have a orion 10" classic dob
halicon74 3 years ago
Thank you. If you can mount a camera directly on the eyepiece, you'll be doing better than I did. I don't recommend setting up a tripod to have the camera look through the eyepiece (though I was lucky enough to get it to work here).
TheStarWatchingRock 3 years ago