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That moment I looked up Saturn's ring angle and felt dumb
I was messing around with my 8 inch dob last month, trying to get a clear view of Saturn, and I noticed the rings looked super thin. I thought something was wrong with my collimation or maybe the atmosphere was just bad. Then I remembered I'd heard somewhere that Saturn's rings tilt over time from our perspective. I looked it up on a site called Sky & Telescope and found out the rings were almost edge on in 2025. Apparently they go through a 27 year cycle where they open up and then close back down. I had no idea the tilt changed that much in just a few years. It made me realize I should check these things before I start blaming my gear. Has anyone else been surprised by something obvious like this in astrophotography?
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tara79326d ago
Have you tried using an app like Stellarium to preview planetary angles before you observe?
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tylerpark26d ago
My buddy actually showed me Stellarium last month and I was pretty blown away... he was trying to find Jupiter's moons and the app just lined everything up perfect like a map. He kept zooming in and out and I'm like "dude are you even looking through the telescope or just the phone?" but then he let me try it and I got a clear view of Ganymede for the first time. It's surprisingly good for figuring out where to point before you even go outside.
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