My first-ever go at Saturn...

I haven't done much planetary sketching (my sum total of experience being 2 or 3 Mars sketches), but here's my first go at Saturn.



Seeing was good, but not excellent. 385X was never sharp, 325X was sharp perhaps 10% of the time, and 235X was sharp perhaps 75%. I'm a fan of image scale, and so used 325X for the bulk of the work with 235X also used.

Tethys, which appears just off the rings, was quite difficult, even though it is intrinsically brighter than Dione (a bit farther off on the same side), which was easy. Rhea appears on the other side of Saturn. Mimas was between Tethys and Dione, but was not seen on this occasion.

I'm not a huge fan of colored filters, but I did try out a red (25A), which was too dark, and a yellow (K2), which increased the contrast of the banding a miniscule amount but made Tethys much easier to pick out.

(Anyone know the Wrattan mapping of K2? Is that 8, 11, 12, or 15?)

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

excellent sketch Jeff!!
very nice shading of the cloud belts and the polar region.
i like the way you got the rings at the slight tilt as well.

Michael.

Hi Jeff


Thats a nice sketch their well done.


Derek

Jeff

That's pretty wonderful sketch of a great view.
I must admit with some of the sketches done by yourself and others I'm considering giving it a go.

Steve

Thanks, lads!

(You should certainly give it a whirl, Steve, and see how it strikes you. I've enjoyed it immensely.)

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

Great sketch Jeff, here is probably my best effort from
December 24th 2007 Saturn Opposition.
The planet would be very small in my 8 inch dob, so this is up scaled by eye, while drawing at the scope. Interesting to see the change in the rings
I have observed the banding in Michael Murphy's 11 inch but as it was a public event
I never had the pleasure of sketching that detail.

Deirdre Kelleghan
PRO IFAS
President IAS
twitter.com/skysketcher