2004/02/13 11:05:25(UT)
      I=113.3 III=294.6
      De=-28.7  E.Dia=19.85"
１３日より徳島県那賀川町科学センターに泊まり込んでいます。
昼間の快晴から一転して夕方からは曇りで、天体観望会は中止に
なりましたが幸運？にもその後明け方まで晴れてくれました。
気流は全般にイマイチでしたが、時々ハッとするような良像を見る
事がありました。１１３ｃｍカセで随分粘りましたが、筒内気流の
影響からなのか良像を得る事が出来ず、結局今回も２５ｃｍ屈折で
の撮像での報告となりました。
[Yukio Oshihoi  (Hirakata-City Oosaka-Prefecture  Japan)]
≪大阪府 枚方市　忍穂井幸夫≫

Hi everyone, with much delay here are my (maybe) last Saturn images of the
season. They are all of average quality at best and conditions were fair.
Just two remarks :
1) Note the IR1000 image of march 8th. The 1-micron filter was used with the
same method as for the UV filter : the ATK-1HS used in long-exposure mode
along with the C14 and a short focal lenght. Each frame was exposed 2
seconds and one thousand has been stacked (it has been long to grab them all
;o) ). Saturn's globe is quite dark at this wavelenght, and I was just
wondering if the image was a bit affected by methane absorption, as for my
Jupiter image of march 6th. Cassini took an image at 720 nm on february 16th
and the belts/zones pattern looks similar to me
(http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05381).
2) Some changes in the globe have been taken place in near-IR, in march.
With the IR700 filter two belts have appeared, the first one around -45° and
the second near the SPR. From december to february those two belts were not
present in the images. With the IR780 filter, the SEB looked suddenly thick
in march, while it was totally not present in the previous monthes.
Best wishes

ALPO-Japan Latest Saturn Section