Saturn's Disappearing Rings

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Partly cloudy
-Location : East Coast Park


Tracking Saturn with my 50mm refractor (above)

Decided to head down to east coast park (ECP) for a
glimpse of Saturn's thinning rings. I'm still able to see the rings with 
my 50mm scope at 90x with a 4mm eyepiece. Saturn will retrograde
from Dec 2008 through May 2009, during this period, the rings
will open up slightly before reaching the thinnest again in Sep 4 2009.

Known as ring plane crossing, it occurs periodically when
the tilt and position of Saturn's orbit allows a view as
if the rings are disappearing. You have to view this
occurrence as it happens only once in 14 to 15 years, don't miss it!

Caldwell 41 - The Hyades Cluster

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear & Windy

This is the nearest Open Cluster to us, can easily be mistaken
for a star field as its quite scattered. Easy target for a 50mm.
This cluster almost fills the FOV of my 25mm eyepiece at 15x.

Do note that the bright star Aldebaran is not part of this cluster.

Double Star - Gamma Ari (Aries)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear & Windy


Double star at Aries (Mesarthim), just able to split this double stars with 8mm eyepiece (45x). Appears to be of same magnitude, colours not apparent through a 50mm scope.

*On closer inspection with a 4mm at 90x, the yellow double is evident if observed carefully! The challenge now is to see if you're able to observe the colours for this double with your 50mm or 60mm scope. Have fun..

===========

Info from web: 

-The system is 204 light years distant and composed of a binary star with components separated with an angular distance of 7.5 arcseconds (separable in small telescopes). Both components are white A-type main sequence stars and have apparent magnitudes of +4.52 and +4.58. The brighter is known as γ2 Arietis and the dimmer γ1 Arietis. The orbital period of the binary is greater than 5000 years.

-Although they were very closely spaced, with the 26mm (48x) eyepiece in the ETX-90, I could split this double. In the 17mm (74x) eyepiece, Gam Ari appears as a closely spaced pair of stars of equal magnitude. The primary is a yellow color and the secondary is a contrasting bright blue color. The contrasting colors resemble the double star Alberio (Bet Cyg) in the constellation Cygnus. (ETX90)

Venus

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor
-Condition : Clear

Venus is currently in its crescent phase (which means its closer to earth as compared to gibbous phase). Easily visible with my 50mm scope & a 4mm (90x) eyepiece,using a 12mm (30x) eyepiece, the phase is also detectable.

My 50mm on Nexstar mount tracking Venus thru my window