Viewing Jupiter

[CH]

I woke myself up at 3am to have my first look at jupiter (using a telescope). I opened the door onto the terrace and there it was rising over the island of Simi, really bright with the nakedeye

I viewed the planet and 2 moons for 20 mins and the planet appeared as a large off white disc with a greeny coloured band accross it. Inside the band, there was definitely some shapes but certainly not the famous red dot that everyone talks about and shows in their astrophotography. Why is this ??, is it the limitation of the equipment ?? (Meade 105)

[Jamie]

Hi Clive

The reason you did not see the GRS is that Jupiter like earth is spinning

so it will be on the other side..It normally has a 10hr cycle..

BTW i just love that island of Simi....So peacfull...

[CH]

Thanks Jamie, that's something I wouldn't have ever thought of but so obvious. I just had a look at Starry night and the spot should be visible tonight.

[legion48]

Here is a site that shows when the GRS is visible:

http://skytonight.com/observing/objects/planets/3304091.html

And here is a site that shows when any of the Gallilian moons are set to transit Jupiters disc (run the Java applet):

http://skytonight.com/observing/objects/planets/3307071.html?page=2&c=y

[John]

I believe the GRS has faded over the last decade or so - it's not quite as distinctive a feature as it used to be. I can recall just about being able to discern it with my old 4 inch refractor when Jupiter was last on show.

If you observe the planet for a few hours you can see features like the GRS move across the disk - the planet rotates that fast.

John

[GazOC]

This will show when the GRS will be facing us.

http://indigo.ie/~gnugent/JupSat95/

Be warned though, Jupiter is very low this year (and for the next few years) so a lot of detail will be missing.