Saturn

Times have certainly changed… I think I was 8 yrs old when one of my older brothers received a small refractor telescope from Santa. We would spend many a night out in the yard drawing the positions of the Galilean moons, the rings of Saturn, and of course our own Moon in a black marble notebook - keeping record of all the positional changes. During the summer nights we’d be eaten by mosquitoes and in the winter we’d look like frozen popsicles after an hour or two outside. Fifty plus years later I’ve owned several telescopes and did slight upgrades each time but never really got into the astrophotography side of it. Today, I’m able to produce this image of Saturn thanks in part to Telescope Live but also Santa again, where my two kids signed me up to Telescope Live as part of their Christmas gifts to me. In fact, my oldest son Chris just left NASA’s Goddard Space Flight in Maryland after working there for several years in their Space Weather Department keeping many satellite operators happy along with working the launch of the JWST on Christmas morning and the Artemis 1 launch. Prior to working at NASA, he was with the US Air Force at Offutt AFB - also in the space weather field. In truth, credits for this image go to Telescope Live, Damian Peach and his videos and Santa’s helpers – my two kids. FYI: Saturn is no longer my favorite planet… Earth is because of its diversity of life.