My First View of Saturn

On the Cloudy Nights discussion board for amateur astronomy the topic came up (as it does now and then), “What was your first telescope?” Some people who are newer to the hobby began with very modern instruments. Other replies came from long time stargazers who posted images of classic refractors from the 1970s. So far, 24 hours later, my post displayed the oldest instrument. I mentioned that I first saw Saturn with it. By running the celestial clock back, I was able to pinpoint the date: it was my mother’s birthday, August 2, 1959. The grown-ups were having a party and one of the doctors, a young resident, said, “That looks like a planet. Get your telescope.” I set it up on the backyard picnic table. He sighted it in and announced “Saturn” and then told me to find it. I did. It changed me more than did my first view through a microscope. 

He also pointed off to our right (west) and said, “That looks like Jupiter.” But there was nothing on which to prop the tabletop telescope. He told my mother that I needed a proper telescope and that happened some months later. It was a Criterion 4-inch reflector. But lacking any more guidance, I cannot remember having seen anything with it, the Moon maybe, but stars are just stars unless you have a proper target such as the Orion Nebula. Even though I had a membership in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and attended many planetarium shows, I never did any productive observing. 

 

Years later, 1981-1983, I took some directed study classes in celestial mechanics at Lansing Community College. In 2020, I completed an online class in astrophysics through the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne via edX. Since 2020, I have been editing This Month in Astronomical History for the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society. 

 

In 2014, my wife and daughter bought me a telescope for my 65^th birthday. I chose an instrument that was most like the Criterion 4-inch reflector, a Celestron 130mm Equatorial mounted Newtonian reflector. I did not use it much for five years because I found the German equatorial mount cumbersome and the process of collimation frustrating. When I did use it, I benefited from the experience. It gave me many views of Saturn (and Jupiter and Mars), Messier 44 the Beehive Cluster, and on 2 December 2018, my first view of the Andromeda Galaxy.  

 

After donating it to the Goodwill, I bought myself an Explore Scientific 102mm refractor in October of 2020 (and later a better altitude-azimuth mount for it). That has been my “grab-n-go” these past two-and-a-half years. Right now, Saturn rises after 5:00 AM and it will be above the tree line by mid-May.

 

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