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Jupiter but first a surprise!

ChrisEdu

By ChrisEdu
in Observing - Planetary

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

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Decided to have a look outside again last night, albeit from our new upstairs (just had a large loft conversion completed).

Started off by looking out from a bedroom skylight at Ursa Major before turning my gaze southwards. It was then that I had a shock - a glowing orb heading straight towards me! Initially, I thought it might be a low flying plane, but then realised I couldn't hear any engines. Then, as the UFO was about to land on me, I realised what it was - a Chinese lantern! It missed my head by only a matter of a few foot and landed on the roof, about 6' from me. I'd have to say, at this point thoughts of observing went out of my mind, as I was concerned about it setting fire to something!

I raced outside to find it had rolled off the roof and landed, still smouldering on the decking.

Eventually, after extinguishing the lantern, I got back upstairs to look at Jupiter and the moon.

Glorious, even with my little NextStar 4SE, I could see the banding of Jupiter and all 4 main moons, along with, I think, some other satellites.

I ended the evening by turning my Nikon skywards, with a 300mm lense, and took some photos of Jupiter, including a couple that also showed the moons. :)

Now I'm even more determined to get a larger scope! :icon_scratch:

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

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If you don't mind me asking, how did you take the pics? I've got a Nikon, and am keen to try it out imaging. Was it via webcam or just with the camera up to the eyepiece with an adapter?

With the 70-300 zoom lense, I literally hand held it, with VR switched on and used a window frame for some support.

If I get a chance / think about it,I might try mounting it onto my Manfrotto tripod and using self timer with mirror lock-up to see what I could get.

Other than that, the only way I have taken photos of an astro nature is to hold a compact camera at the eyepiece!

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

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Congrats on viewing Jupiter and extinguishing one of those infuriating lanterns.

Alas, you only saw 4 Jovian moons. The others (60+) are beyond amateur scope, or at least 99.9999% of em.

That was four of the moons when using my Nikon 70-300mm lense on a D300. With my NextStar 4SE, I'm pretty sure I saw about 6 or maybe 7 satellites going around Jupiter (albeit with the smaller moons being quite faint).

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ChrisEdu

ChrisEdu

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Having just had a look again at the photos, I think I might have caught five Jovian moons. What do you think? There are four near the planet (one is a bit obscured by Jupiter's brightness and its proximity) and one is up to the top left of the frame. Or is it a case of four moons and something else? The fifth item certainly didn't have the same look as a star and did seem to very much resemble the other satellites.

post-15252-133877649632_thumb.jpg

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