iPeace

Susie has exceptional powers not to be discussed here. We'll see.

Does sound like fun. Still wary, but appreciative.

This is the extent of my solar gear. NOTE: NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN - EVEN IF YOU ARE WEARING SUNGLASSES.

Thanks - I assure you all that I was rested, sober, fed and hydrated - though I may have a celebratory beverage later on. I suppose it would come down to the nutter with the 60mm on a birding mount and photo tripod to actually try to observe Jupiter before dusk. I think we did well.

Stu, this has been a particularly heavy gauntlet you so casually threw down - and a lot of fun, so thanks for the heads up! At 20:30 I finally spotted Jove with the DIY widefield binoculars, about 10 minutes before it winked into naked eye view, so I got aimed up and went to 103x. I used SkySafari for hints, very useful. At first, Io's shadow was the only special feature I could see, a clear bullet hole in the NEB. The GRS was very faint, barely visible but ever more so as it got darker. Can't confirm Europa's shadow, nor Io's presence in front of the planet, until it poked out into the surrounding darkness, right on schedule. I did switch to 144x at one point, but that wasn't giving me any more, so back to 103x, my thinking being that I would see most by observing during longer drifts across the wider field. I am satisfied this is the best we could do at the time. At the moment, the space between Io and Jupiter increases, the bullet hole nears the edge and the Spot gains in nice, juicy color. Fun. Thanks again.

Right. Moose is ready. The observatory is prepared and on full alert. When Jupiter appears, Moose will jump all over it. Hope I'll be able to see the show. To be continued.

What he said. Right on.

You're bloomin' right. Complimentary ouzo seems to be the order of business.

Here in the Aegean, we're two hours ahead, so I may well have Moose out to have a go, holiday obligations permitting.

Seeing here was pretty turbulent, but sticking it out is hardly a chore when it's 18 degrees C until 2 AM. Started early enough to catch Io just as it was heading for cover. Crisp views very intermittent and so stayed at 103x early on, eq. band and belts well defined, with the belts and zones on the South side more obviously separating the polar region than in the North - more of a gradient effect there. As Saturn ascended we moved to get some half decent views of it, again only intermittently good, but still worth going to 144x. Much later, as the GRS was rotated into view, we managed to catch that as well. Finally backed off the magnification and spent the rest of the session just surfing around all that goodness in Scorpius and Sagittarius at 15x - 32x. At the latter, Saturn is quite a sight among all that starry stuff, further dramatized by residual flashes of far-off lightning from a distant storm. A long, memorable night at my Aegean balcony observatory.

Don't take my "like" the wrong way.

It's gone a bit too murky here, and the wind has really picked up. So we've packed in, no clear Saturn for us tonight but did some doubles in Scorpius, nothing very challenging but gave me a chance to cycle through the Naglers; Moose knows exactly what to do with each one. As well he might.

I'm quite short on all this lat/long stuff, just relating what the phone tells me. But if Pondus can guess that close it should be correct. SkySafari is great stuff.

If I told, you'd all want to come.

Hm...my copy of SkySafari (all your fault, Stu , me using this) at "current location" shows Saturn well above the horizon, just where Moose says it is.