I was asked by the team leader Casssie to come and visit the girls and give them an astronomy and space evening so they could obtain there astronomy patch on behalf our astronomy society (Southern Astronomy Society).
http://sas.org.au
 
When I arrived the girls were busy making models of the Apollo 13 spacecraft that had an explosion on its way to the Moon, there were all sorts of bits and pieces as they taped the lunar module and lunar lander together so the astronauts could safely arrive back home. This activity was in connection with NASA’s 50th Anniversary of the landing on the Moon.
 
After setting up my telescope, all the girls came outside and I gave them a star tour around the night sky, we were lucky enough to still see the Southern Cross going down in the west with alpha and beta Centauri following.
 
Then I showed them the stunning constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion) that was right above our heads at the zenith with Sagittarius close by. Both Jupiter and Saturn were on show and after that we all went and had a look at the Moon through the telescope…which is always very exciting with lots of Wow’s!
 
Everyone had a great night and all the girls and team leaders thanked me, I got a very special surprise and was given my own girl guides astronomy patch, thank you so much…its just lovely :-)

It was still quite light when I set up my telescope to take images of this rare event, Saturn looked ever so small as it neared the darkened western limb of the 11 day old waxing gibbous Moon at 6.30pm.
 
I had to keep a very close eye on the planet, because it was going to disappear very quickly behind the really dark shadow area of the Moon that was unlit by the Sun.
 
Once Saturn disappeared it took nearly one and a half hours to reappear, it was a bit tricky working out where it would come into view again because the eastern limb was extremely bright!
 
In reality, Saturn is a huge planet at a distance of over 1.3 billion kilometers away from us here on earth, but it looks so small as compared with the Moon which is only 384,000 kms away it’s all just an optical Illusion, like most things in the Universe….
 
I used a 127mm APO refractor telescope and a Canon 700D camera that was attached to a tracking HEQ5 Pro mount. I used this lower powered set-up so I could captured the full disc of the Moon and do a composite image of the entire event…it worked out just as I planed :-)
 
1st image is of Saturn just before it disappears at 6.40pm, 12 images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in Photoshop CS4. Exposures were 1/200th second and ISO 200. Image is cropped.
 
2nd Image is the full disc of the Moon, 12 images were stacked in Registgack6 and processed in Photoshop CS4. Exposures were 1/200th second and ISO 200.
 
3rd Image is a composite of the three images to show the whole event of the occultation of Saturn by the Moon over a period of one and a half hours from 6.40pm until 8.15pm. 

Right now is the time to get your telescopes out and look at these two stunning planets in our Solar System. No matter what size telescope you have, you’ll still see the four moons of Jupiter doing an ecliptic moon dance around the planet and you'll see the ring around Saturn.
 
If you don't have a telescope, you could use a large pair of binoculars (10X50mm or more) to see Jupiter and its moons but with the rings of Saturn you’ll definitely need a telescope, as the planet is over 1.3 billion kilometres away from us here on Earth!

The images of Jupiter & Saturn were taken with a Meade LX200 (GPS) 10inch telescope at prime focus using a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera with a 3x Barlow lens attached. AVI movie files were captured with 2000 frames that were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

Early in the evening you’ll still see the magnificent Milky Way at the zenith and the wonderful deep sky objects that abound in the constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius.
 
Please go to Skymaps.com to download your free star chart to explore your night sky in your own garden…just make sure you download the relevant star chart for your latitude and hemisphere that you live in.
http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

You can also download a FREE App called ‘Star Chart’ from the Apple store which is an excellent planetarium App that you just hold up to the night sky and its shows you the planets and constellations, I always share this App with teachers and students for them to learn the night sky…have lots of fun :-)
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/star-chart/id34554265