Anyone see or take Pics of Saturns rings last night?

I heard that last night the visibility of Saturn last night was quite spectacular. Apparently the rings were visible through a telescope. Did anyone happen to take any pics or anything? I saw the eclipse and that was awesome, but just found out this morning about Saturn.

The rings should always be visible through a small telescope, except when they are directly edge-on to our point of view. Under a good, clear, steady sky, a good sub-$500 telescope should show significant detail and bands in both the planet's rings as well as in its cloud belts.

You need at least 30 x power (and a steady mount ) to make out the rings-I had a Newtonian Reflector 8" with a long 50" tube, and assorted Eye pieces and 2x barlow -I sold it when I moved after having it for around 5 years and got what I paid almost (so a good scope is a better purchase than a car!! )

you can build your own also, which I plan to do one day (when I get somewhere with out to much "light pollution" which is a bummer!

Telescopes are really cool (I saw a picture of Sherpa's-he posted on lears moon thread-that one is sweet!!)

I was just checking on line and came across this interesting story of a guy who built a 8' reflector members.aol.com...


[edit on 21-2-2008 by RUFFREADY]

I heard that they were more visible last night, not sure why this is but its what I heard.

reply to post by Jeff Riff


These photos have been taken on February 20, 2008: but not by me
Photo # 1 - Saturn

Photo # 2 -Moon, Saturn and Regulus

The original images can be found here:
www.flickr.com...
/2wusya



[edit on 22/2/2008 by internos]

reply to post by Jeff Riff
Saturn is in opposition on February 24, which means it will be at its closest postion to the Earth until about a year from now, but during next year's opposition the rings will be hardly visible (if at all) due to being viewed 'edge-on'.

link explains that the tilt of the rings is presently diminishing, until sometime in 2009 the rings will be invisible until the tilt again increases enough the following year to be able to see them again. The rings were last at there most visible orientation in 2003.
Saturn Viewing

[edit on 2/22/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]