Saturn 6th June
This was the first test for the new 6″ (152mm) Ritchey-Chretien OTA while I waited for the stars to come out enough to start the alignment routines. Started with the ASI120 at prime focus, then 2x barlow and finally 3x barlow.
Saturn
The sixth planet out from the Sun, Saturn is the second largest in the solar system with a volume equivalent to 763 Earths. Also a Gas giant, Saturn also has the most extension ring system with 9 continous rings and three arc sections. Saturn has 63 official moons as well as hundreds of moonlets.
With an average orbit radius of approximately 9.5 AU, almost double that of Jupiter, and a smaller size Saturn is correspondingly dimmer in the night sky and more difficult to image successfully due to the significantly reduced angular size.