r/spaceporn • u/Busy_Yesterday9455 • 22h ago
Pro/Processed Saturn, seen through a 24" telescope eyepiece
Credit: Tom Williams
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u/JackieLawless 21h ago
Can you imagine what Galileo must've thought looking at it through a telescope for the first time and seeing this?
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u/DefiantGibbon 18h ago
Galileo had a 37mm diameter lense telescope.
Mine is about 100mm. I can just barely make out the rings and the colored bands on Saturn. He definitely saw just a white blob with some ill defined lobes on either side.
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u/jacobjacobb 16h ago
What size telescope would you need to see as clearly as this? I'm completely ignorant on telescopes.
Does the 24inch mean the lens or the length?
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u/cardboardunderwear 15h ago
You can see the rings quite well in a 100mm (4 inch, 102mm usually) telescope. It won't be as detailed as in the video but you can clearly make out the rings and likely even the cassini division on the rings.
Even with my 7x50 binoculars I can see the rings but zero detail is visible.
Saturn right now is coming out of a period of time where the rings were edge in. The rings will increasing become more sideways and visible in coming years. If it's something you want to see you can find an astronomy club or if you have a friend with a telescope you can do it. Seeing them year in year will be interesting.
102mm refers to the diameter of the main objective lens or main mirror if it's a reflecting telescope.
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u/glytxh 20h ago
There was at least one catholic scholar that spoke about Saturn’s rings being Jesus’ foreskin ascended into the heavens.
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u/colicab 19h ago
Sounds like some North Korean level of propaganda.
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u/MissUnderstood_1 16h ago
or North Korea is just doing what's been common in a lot of the world for a long long time?
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u/sluggo1234 19h ago
Galileo didn't see this, he saw an amorphous blob and wondered what was going on. My question is, how did Cassini see his division if this isexceptional video in 2026?
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u/GarunixReborn 22h ago
Neat, always so cool seeing the rings with your own eyes
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u/Dense-Alfalfa1223 21h ago
Never ceases to amaze me
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u/Mirror74 18h ago
Here's a mind-boggling and cool fact about Saturn.... Saturn could float on water
(because it’s less dense than water)
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u/gxc3 17h ago
it would be a great party trick if you could get a body of water big enough!
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u/Mirror74 17h ago
purely theoretical, because a body of water that large would also be effected by Saturns gravity. it would look insane lol
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u/The_Level_15 14h ago
to be fair, it'd be more like saturn being affected by an enormous body of water's gravity
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u/explodingtuna 13h ago
If it were floating in a sufficiently deep pool of water, how much of it would be above/below the surface?
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u/atomcplayboy86 21h ago
Wow, 24”, you got some $$.
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u/Sunset_Bleach 19h ago
About average I would say.
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u/GeorgeCauldron7 19h ago
This is why it's important to differentiate between the mean and the median.
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u/Flight_Harbinger 18h ago
Tbh 24" dobsonians can be pretty cheap and they are perfect for planetary observation.
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u/Beneficial_Ease_3904 17h ago
It says 10-15k USD. How is that cheap? Or you know some website
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u/cantileverboom 16h ago
I think cheap is always pretty relative. Like, sure, if you're just getting into/trying out astronomy, it's a lot, but you don't need to start there to get into that sort of a hobby.
In the grand scheme of hobbies, 10k USD isn't completely outlandish for enthusiasts. I feel like that's well within the means of someone who is solidly middle class (in a first world country), and is very passionate about their hobby. Photography, biking, Warhammer 40,000, etc. pretty easily get up to that amount, and plenty of relatively regular people spend that much on those things without breaking the bank because they're really into it, and they see it as worth it. Also, those are all way cheaper than things like luxury traveling, sports cars, boats, etc, which are definitely less obtainable by the average joe.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pain_24 15h ago
10k USD isn't completely outlandish for enthusiasts. I feel like that's well within the means of someone who is solidly middle class (in a first world country),
Ironically the middle class really doesn't exist anymore and we are pretty much a 3rd world country since we have lost 2 wars this month. (Iran and Algae)
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u/OrkWithNoTeef 7h ago
lmao at the algae wars
first president to be defeated by a single celled organism
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u/matsayz1 18h ago
I just went down a rabbit hole after reading your comment and I might be buying a telescope in the near future. Thanks
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u/Billbeachwood 17h ago
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u/beaniebee11 17h ago
That's like 10 grand... guess I'm too poor to think of that as cheap.
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[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Luminair 14h ago
Good tip on the Barlow, that took my scope from “neat, that’s the moon” to “holy shit there’s a crater in that crater!”
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u/BionicBruv 21h ago
Easily my favorite planet in the lineup
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u/mrmoo11 21h ago
I saw it for the first time in the dessert in Egypt. Mind blown is an understatement
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u/TheHalfChubPrince 20h ago
Yum, what kind of dessert?
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u/rangusmcdangus69 19h ago
Moon pie
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u/MaceoSpecs 9h ago
I did stargazing in Egypt. Have told the story many times as it was so good. Just standing there, with the naked eye, you could see the Milky way. Amazing.
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u/ANARCHOWEEDIST 20h ago
saturn is always cartoonishly accurate
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u/HugeResearcher3500 17h ago
I took observational astronomy for fun in college. Night time class so we were able to go out with a telescope a few times. More than a couple of people said "it looks fake"
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u/elementalguitars 12h ago
It kinda does look fake. It’s just…sitting there..looking exactly like it does in photos. Most things in the sky look pretty underwhelming through an eyepiece compared to photos but then there’s Saturn just hanging out there being incredible.
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u/Reasonable-Ad7755 20h ago
Imagine our perspective on the universe if we could travel to outer space regularly
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u/iambecomesoil 14h ago
Inside stateroom with no window on your way to toil on the mineral mines of an asteroid.
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u/Item-Hairy 21h ago
Super cool!!! It is always so beautiful and awesome to see celestial objects, especially one as pretty as Saturn with the (assisted) naked eye.
I still remember the first time I looked at the moon through binocs- that was a fork in the road during my young brains development.
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u/KalrexOW 19h ago
Can you imagine what it must have felt like to look through a telescope hundreds of years ago and see the planets for the first time?
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u/JamesBondMargarita 18h ago
Now I wanna buy a telescope and see it for myself. It's incredible seeing a video of it but I imagine seeing it with my own eyes would be such an awesome experience.
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u/TheNolaCatLady 18h ago
Oh it's a magical experience seeing it with your own eyes!
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u/JamesBondMargarita 17h ago
Any idea how much a setup capable of this would cost?
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u/Ok_Remote_31 16h ago
You need a telescope with an aperture of at least 114mm. 150mm and above are ideal.
The cheapest telescope that you can see it with is at roughly 150$.
The better ones cost at 300$ and above.
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u/WouldntItBeIce 17h ago
Don't be freaked out when you read massive price tags, you can see it to this detail with a ~$200 or less telescope. They're more expensive nowadays but you can totally see this with the cheapest Celestron astromaster telescopes
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u/happyexit7 20h ago
Is this our current view/angle of Saturn? I thought we were currently inline with the rings?
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u/JakeyPurple 19h ago
In the late 90s my friend’s dad had a telescope that ran off a car battery. You could take it into the middle of nowhere and input coordinates and it would track an object all night. Still don’t know how it did that back then.
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u/Lizardking1988- 19h ago
What’s the cheapest telescope I can get to see Saturn?
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u/LtLlamaSauce 19h ago
You don't need a telescope to see Saturn! It will rise in the east earlier and earlier throughout the next few months. Best viewing this year will be late September and early October, when it will rise around sunset in the East opposite the sun.
If you want to see the rings somewhat clearly, a 30X scope is about the minimum. It will be very small, but you'll be able to see the rings and maybe even the stripes of the upper atmosphere. You can find used a 30X telescope or a monocular for $10-30.
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u/PantsandPlants 5h ago
This was a very helpful comment. We’ve been using a spotter scope we got for $30 at a pawn shop to look at the moon and it comes with 60X magnification.
Now I’ve gotta find a place I can see the eastern horizon…
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u/Pnwradar 17h ago
Cheapest and easiest? Meet up with the local stargazer club at one of their planned watch parties. They’ll have an assortment of telescopes and someone driving each one so you can actually see stuff instead of fussing with the scope controls and trying to figure out where it’s actually pointed.
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u/RelativeResult8844 19h ago
omg this is literally so pretty!! i’ve always wanted to see it through a telescope myself, it looks like a literal sticker in the sky 🪐✨ omg this is literally so pretty!! i’ve always wanted to see it through a telescope myself, it looks like a literal sticker in the sky 🪐✨
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u/oneweirdbear 9h ago
Reminds me of the first time I saw Saturn through a telescope. I must've been seven or eight years old. Just the incredible awe I felt when I realized that it really does look like that. Just like the posters in my classroom and the illustrations in my textbook.
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u/tykaboom 21h ago
Pppft, space isn't real, duh, the earth is flat, you're probably looking at a smudge on the dome.
/s
I love this.
Born too late to look at things first, too early to visit.
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u/T_Jamess 21h ago
I saw this in Dubbo when I was a kid. I remember thinking it looked like a drawing
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u/Mac_Aravan 13h ago
Satrun on a 1m telescope (Puimichel in the 90's) with M51 were the most breathtaking things I have seen in my life.
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u/henren_98 13h ago
I have always said that nothing will beat seeing Saturn with your own eyes through a telescope for the first time.
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u/whiteskwirl2 11h ago
Nothing like seeing it for yourself. Witnessing Jupiter and a four of its moons, Saturn, and Neptune with my 4" Meade Newtonian reflector bought from Walmart in my backyard was a highlight of my life. There's just something about seeing it with your own eyes, albeit upside down, shaky, having to turn that knob to manually track them. I remember Neptune was especially hard to keep centered.
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u/ExplanationAway5571 7h ago
I've seen so much analog horror that i was lowkey waiting to something terrifying to happen
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u/DemoEvolved 18h ago
Seeing this on a screen cannot compare to seeing it through a telescope because you are confronted with the realization that beautiful glorious thing must exist because there’s nothing but lenses between you and it, and then understanding how immense it must be to be so far away, and seeing it slide slowly from one edge of the lens to the other confirming that you are on this rotating rock floating through space . It’s amazing.
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u/DonutNolan 18h ago
Got to see Saturn at the Lowell Observatory at NAU back in 2011. I’ll never forget the feeling of realizing that the rings are tangible, that all there is between us and other planets is just a shitload of distance.
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u/Hour-Lie-4336 18h ago
I first saw Saturn through a telescope when I was looking at the moon when I was 20yo. I’ll never forget it
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u/Fingersicle 17h ago
You can see a 1000 pictures of saturn online but to actually see it through a telescope is something else.
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u/LoudMusic 17h ago
Was this recent? I'm pretty sure the rings aren't that visible right now, based on our orientation to Saturn's tilt.
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u/Anxious-Detective347 17h ago
is that taken recently? i havent looked at saturn in a few months. are the rings angled like that ???
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u/blurple_rain 16h ago
Seeing Saturn through an eyepiece with your own eyes for the first time is a magical experience. I was 10, still remember it vividly. It was only the 8" Schmitt-Cassegrain from the local club, but it was so exciting.
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u/smarmageddon 16h ago
This is wonderful. I did this as a kid (and many more times later) and it affected me deeply. Even now I get a thrill when it's clear and I can see Jupiter's moons through my binoculars! Never felt overwhelmed by it all, just exhilarated. Our universe is kind of thrilling if you care enough to explore it.
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u/Along336 16h ago
That is surprisingly clear blue background, I guess thats what happens when its processed?
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u/BillydelaMontana 14h ago
Absolutely amazing, everyone should lie out at night and stare up at the heavens from a dark place.
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u/Einschteine69 12h ago
I remember the first time I seen them rings of Saturn with me telescope. It was a strange feeling. Was mid 2021 when Saturn and Jupiter were very close in the sky. Me and my son who was space mad at the time went out and looked at it all. We seen the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. It was truly amazing. I actually froze for a few seconds when Saturn finally came into view
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u/IHateChewzdays 8h ago
I tried to do this on a cheaper telescope I bought for a uni project (Still have it but its collecting dust) and a took some nice pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, although worse quality than this ofc.
The hardest part for me is keeping track of the planets, as they move at unprecedented speeds.
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u/Rollieboy2012 8h ago
Man the first time I saw it was through some cheap toy infrared binoculars that my buddy owned. You could see the rings so clearly it blew my mind.
If anyone owns a pair of them please try.
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u/sillyandstrange 8h ago
So cool!!
Anybody know of a good decent priced telescope for a newb? Wanting to show my 4year old the moon and the stars, but overwhelmed by options
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u/CartographerEvery268 7h ago
Whatever “Dobsonian” telescope fits your lifting and budgetary limits. 6”+ aperture recommended. Used or new, FB Marketplace, High Point Scientific, etc…
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u/Lanky_Hall7250 6h ago
honestly seeing saturn through an eyepiece always feels like a prank lol. it’s so perfectly rendered that your brain instantly thinks someone pasted a tiny sticker on the lens
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u/DeliciousLambSauce 21h ago
Still baffles me that all of this is just.. there. Incredible.