Look up! Saturn shines bright, shows off rings as it reaches opposition.

I was able to view Saturn with my 90-mm refractor telescope this morning. Here is my geeky stargazing log report :)

[Observed 0030-0130 EDT/0430-0530 UT. Saturn retrograde motion places it about 4 degrees west of Theta Capricorni star now. I was able to view Saturn early this morning using 9-mm eyepiece at 111x views and no filters. Saturn transit my location near 0114 EDT/0514 UT. Saturn rings with Cassini division visible, some cloud bands apparent on Saturn, and the moons Titan and Rhea visible too in the FOV. True FOV about 44 arcminutes. Titan about mv + 8.46 and Rhea about mv + 9.84. There were two 10th-11th magnitude stars visible in the FOV along with some others. TYC6348-1189-1 was visible in the FOV, mv + 11.15 and TYC6348-1439-1 visible in the FOV too, mv + 9.68. Both stars about 10 to 12 arcminutes angular separation from Saturn. TYC6348-1439-1, SIMBAD portal shows mv + 9.69 and stellar parallax 0.9279 mas. SIMBAD shows designator HD 198447 too for this star. The parallax places the star some 3500 light years distance or a bit farther. Near 0100 EDT I observed a bright meteor flash by moving away from Aquarius near Jupiter position, traveling north. It was about as bright as Saturn. Aquarids are visible so likely an Aquarids. Aquarids move about 40 km/s or so. Observing was better but rain earlier and very humid with trees dripping rain on the ground. Some great horn owls were out hooting in the woods. An enjoyable Saturn opposition time with a possible Aquarid meteor observed. In Delphinus, I could see Zeta Delphini star near mv + 4.62, some 5th magnitude stars visible despite rain earlier and humidity while viewing. Some altocumulus clouds rolled in after 0100 EDT. Temperature 20C and NE winds 3 knots.]
 

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