Real-Time Saturn Shots Tonight?

"Marty" wrote in message
...
The view of Saturn isn't going to change
much over a period of a few weeks
around opposition, anyway.

I was flipping channels a couple days ago and saw a pic of Saturn on
CNN. I listened in, and they were talking something about Saturn being
closer than it's been for 30 years. Well, I s'pose so, but it really
doesn't make that much difference in what we can see from here, unlike
oppositions of Mars. A non-astronomical fellow met me in the grocery
store that night, and brought it up like it was a rare and spectacular
event. I told him what was going on and where to look, but that if he
went out with binoculars, he might enjoy Jupiter's moons more.
Marty

My sister, her husband, and my nephew, came out just for the event. I
showed them, naked eye, Saturn, M42, and M45, and then brought out the
Binoculars for M42 and M45. They were impressed that these things could be
seen but it seemed they couldn't care less because of Saturn and "It's
closest approach". I showed them Saturn in the LX90 and told them all the
statistics I knew about it but they were more interested in seeing "Saturn
at it's closest approach". I even slewed to M31 and I was sure they would
be impressed with the fact that they could see first hand a "Galaxy", but
they had virtually no interest. However, I was glad they came out and
showed interest in astronomy even though it was a very narrow and very
specific interest.
--
Michael A. Barlow
Lat: 42.9535 N
Long: 77.2261 W

"Marty" wrote in message
...
The view of Saturn isn't going to change
much over a period of a few weeks
around opposition, anyway.

I was flipping channels a couple days ago and saw a pic of Saturn on
CNN. I listened in, and they were talking something about Saturn being
closer than it's been for 30 years. Well, I s'pose so, but it really
doesn't make that much difference in what we can see from here, unlike
oppositions of Mars. A non-astronomical fellow met me in the grocery
store that night, and brought it up like it was a rare and spectacular
event. I told him what was going on and where to look, but that if he
went out with binoculars, he might enjoy Jupiter's moons more.
Marty

My sister, her husband, and my nephew, came out just for the event. I
showed them, naked eye, Saturn, M42, and M45, and then brought out the
Binoculars for M42 and M45. They were impressed that these things could be
seen but it seemed they couldn't care less because of Saturn and "It's
closest approach". I showed them Saturn in the LX90 and told them all the
statistics I knew about it but they were more interested in seeing "Saturn
at it's closest approach". I even slewed to M31 and I was sure they would
be impressed with the fact that they could see first hand a "Galaxy", but
they had virtually no interest. However, I was glad they came out and
showed interest in astronomy even though it was a very narrow and very
specific interest.
--
Michael A. Barlow
Lat: 42.9535 N
Long: 77.2261 W

Dane wrote:

How would this be any different than a photograph available online? In
fact, a "real-time" shot is just an image that was taken very recently.
The view of Saturn isn't going to change much over a period of a few
weeks around opposition, anyway.

You're right, Mike. Let me rephrase the question to ask in general,
are there live telescopes/telescope cams online? I know there are a
few you can log in and re-position, but I don't have the knowledge for
that. I want to be able to go to a web site and see what's visible
right now from a live telescope...and when I'm lucky, to see something
that's a special event as it's being captured.

Thanks again,

Dane

Dane,

There aren't any telescopes that I know of that take images and post to
the Internet "live" unless there is a "special event" they're
concentrating on. If you follow this newsgroup, though, you'll see
images that are pretty fresh off the CCD as some very good imagers post
their previous night's results. It's pretty rare that last night's
image will be any different than "right now". On the rare occasion
where there is a "special event" and something changes there will be
special web sites set up. Solar and lunar eclipses are often webcast
live these days. The Venus transit on June 8 will have at least one web
site available showing the event (our group's) but there will probably
be several. As for getting lucky and seeing something unexpected
happen, well, don't bet the farm on it. :-)

Controlling remote telescopes isn't really hard at all. The free ones I
know of are for schools only, though. I think there are some available
to anyone for a fee but I don't have any direct knowledge of them. With
remote scopes you point the telescope using a star map and telescope
control program, take an image, and then download the image to your own
computer for viewing and processing. The technology is becoming more
widespread and I think it will become pretty common in the
not-too-distant future. The equipment costs are higher than for most
amateur setups, though, so it's not likely to ever be cheap.

Mike Simmons

Dane wrote:

How would this be any different than a photograph available online? In
fact, a "real-time" shot is just an image that was taken very recently.
The view of Saturn isn't going to change much over a period of a few
weeks around opposition, anyway.

You're right, Mike. Let me rephrase the question to ask in general,
are there live telescopes/telescope cams online? I know there are a
few you can log in and re-position, but I don't have the knowledge for
that. I want to be able to go to a web site and see what's visible
right now from a live telescope...and when I'm lucky, to see something
that's a special event as it's being captured.

Thanks again,

Dane

Dane,

There aren't any telescopes that I know of that take images and post to
the Internet "live" unless there is a "special event" they're
concentrating on. If you follow this newsgroup, though, you'll see
images that are pretty fresh off the CCD as some very good imagers post
their previous night's results. It's pretty rare that last night's
image will be any different than "right now". On the rare occasion
where there is a "special event" and something changes there will be
special web sites set up. Solar and lunar eclipses are often webcast
live these days. The Venus transit on June 8 will have at least one web
site available showing the event (our group's) but there will probably
be several. As for getting lucky and seeing something unexpected
happen, well, don't bet the farm on it. :-)

Controlling remote telescopes isn't really hard at all. The free ones I
know of are for schools only, though. I think there are some available
to anyone for a fee but I don't have any direct knowledge of them. With
remote scopes you point the telescope using a star map and telescope
control program, take an image, and then download the image to your own
computer for viewing and processing. The technology is becoming more
widespread and I think it will become pretty common in the
not-too-distant future. The equipment costs are higher than for most
amateur setups, though, so it's not likely to ever be cheap.

Mike Simmons

Dane wrote:

How would this be any different than a photograph available online? In
fact, a "real-time" shot is just an image that was taken very recently.
The view of Saturn isn't going to change much over a period of a few
weeks around opposition, anyway.

You're right, Mike. Let me rephrase the question to ask in general,
are there live telescopes/telescope cams online? I know there are a
few you can log in and re-position, but I don't have the knowledge for
that. I want to be able to go to a web site and see what's visible
right now from a live telescope...and when I'm lucky, to see something
that's a special event as it's being captured.

Thanks again,

Dane

Dane,

There aren't any telescopes that I know of that take images and post to
the Internet "live" unless there is a "special event" they're
concentrating on. If you follow this newsgroup, though, you'll see
images that are pretty fresh off the CCD as some very good imagers post
their previous night's results. It's pretty rare that last night's
image will be any different than "right now". On the rare occasion
where there is a "special event" and something changes there will be
special web sites set up. Solar and lunar eclipses are often webcast
live these days. The Venus transit on June 8 will have at least one web
site available showing the event (our group's) but there will probably
be several. As for getting lucky and seeing something unexpected
happen, well, don't bet the farm on it. :-)

Controlling remote telescopes isn't really hard at all. The free ones I
know of are for schools only, though. I think there are some available
to anyone for a fee but I don't have any direct knowledge of them. With
remote scopes you point the telescope using a star map and telescope
control program, take an image, and then download the image to your own
computer for viewing and processing. The technology is becoming more
widespread and I think it will become pretty common in the
not-too-distant future. The equipment costs are higher than for most
amateur setups, though, so it's not likely to ever be cheap.

Mike Simmons