Monday, January 31, 2005

4-Feb-99

Just discovered that my little viewing window can reveal both the Jupiter and the Saturn, however and of course, the viewing time for both planets are are only less than 10 minutes. The image for the Jupiter today is not very good, the cloud belts are pale and I could not read it very clearly at any magnification from 120x up to 240x that I've tried. The Jupiter appeared at around seven O'Clock.

Later for the Saturn, it appeared at around eight O'Clock. I discovered it when I was scanning the little viewing window by using my pair of binoculars and I found a orange small elongated disc. Using the Ranger at 15x confirms the view. I've tried various magnification on the Saturn but not much detail can be seen, just like the Jupiter. I could hardly see its moon, the Titan.

I've tried to use the Orion Ultrablock for both of the planets, since people reported that it could be served as a green filter, I found it not to be the case, maybe the Ranger is too small in aperture. Using the #14 yellow filter could not help to improve the contrast, and however, the light transmission for the filter is high, and I guess it's suitable for my little Ranger. Maybe I should try it later when the sky condition is better.

Tonight, I've also tried to push the scope up to 381x and the image is just a bit too dim to be useful. Actually, even at 240x, the image is not bright enough. I guess 150x or even 120x is optimal.

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