Have you ever seen the Great Red Spot?

[Blackheart]

Hi all

Don't know about you guys but last night was just perfect here in the Borders. Jupiter was beautiful and the seeing was pretty damn good. I saw the Great Red Spot properly for the first time in my life and I've been observing for years! This was the second best view of Jupiter I've ever had and it was a real thrill to see something clearly that I had only ever 'guessed at' before. So nice to get that buzz that I remember from my early days with a telescope.

So, I was wondering just how many people have actually seen the Great Red Spot...

I was using a 12" SW Flextube dob, with a 6mm eyepiece and a Mario de Lio baffle to cool the mirror and remove the thermal boundary layer (Never saw this kind of detail before fitting the baffle)

I took a couple of pics using a normal digital camera held up to the eyepiece and was really pleased by the results. As well as some nice banding you can see not one but two spots. Not bad for a hand-held, unguided, single shot!

Hope lots of you had a chance to enjoy the clear skies to

All the best

BH

[bish]

The GRS eluded me for quite a while when I started out. Using a small scope and generally viewing under less than perfect conditions, I just assumed it would be so easy to see that it would jump out at me. Of course it doesn't, but it's easier when you've seen it once.

[Andy McK]

I managed to capture the GRS last nite, seeing was pretty good in South Wales (old, not new)

First time I've ever seen it too. let alone image it. :laugh:

BTW, I noticed two spots. I though there was an issue with my kit

[estwing]

it's all down to good seeing ya know...

[freeflyjay]

the other night when jupiter was close to the moon i had a look at jupiter for only the 2nd time, just got a new meade zoom and put a x2 barlow at 8mm on my 10" dob to get 300x mag, the grs was clear as a bell amazing view, even called the wife out to see, finnally got a view like the pictures you see, made me really pleased, good couple of hours as i found andromeda as well ! just ordered a x3 barlow yesterday to get it a bit bigger that`ll give me upto max 450 x mag but wether i`ll ever be able to go that high i`ll have to wait and see, i suspect not but worth a go.

[crashtestdummy]

Not looked for it yet but planning to add a 4.7 ep or a barlow to my ep collection then will have a look

[Demo johnny]

Snap last night Jupiter was awesome. GRS kept drifting in and out of vision with my 14mm on the 12" dob. Wow still being new to this game (under 12months) I was obviously spoiled last night.

[Mr Q]

When I first started out observing (at age 10), my cheap department store refractor showed only a few cloud bands and a hint of the GRS. Years later (in the 70s) I upgraded to a 4" newt and the GRS was easy with it. But over the decades, the GRS has faded considerably from a dark pink to a now hard-to-see pale pink color. So its no wonder todays' observers have trouble seeing it. Today, with a 10" newt, it is a somewhat elusive object, along with the junior red spot (that was not detectable back in the middle to late 1900s). What was a prominant feature on Jupiter (the GRSD and the cloud bands) many decades ago is now much more harder to detect without any filters.

I'm so glad I got to see the GRS in its glory way back then and miss its "stand-out" feature of decades ago.

[twotter]

I've seen the GRS but really think it needs an update to be called the GPS (Great Pink Spot).

[John]

Over the years I've seen the GRS quite a few times. The smallest aperture scope I've managed to see it with was an 80mm ED refractor. It was nicely on show a couple of nights back with my 4" refractor.

While the spot itself is rather pale and grey currently, I find the area immediately around it, on the southern side of the south equatorial belt, variable and interesting. There have also been some pale vortices follwing the GRS which are quite dynamic and always worth studying.

[jonathan]

I can't really make it out through my 8SE with 10mm eyepiece, all I can discern are some faint bands. Yet, I can probably make out the ring shadow on Saturn with the same scope and location.

[stevetynant]

I managed to capture the GRS last nite, seeing was pretty good in South Wales (old, not new)

First time I've ever seen it too. let alone image it. :laugh:

BTW, I noticed two spots. I though there was an issue with my kit

I was out in S Wales aswel last night Andy and as you say conditions were fantastic but personally I had no luck - I can't see it will get better in this respect for a while - I think Jupiter was in opposition on the 3rd I think so not sure I'm likely to see it any time soon. I have an 8 Inch Dob and was using an 8mm Hyperion - it was a beautiful sight but no red spot - what am I doing wrong or is it just an element of right place right time here?

[Matthew]

What time was you out last night Steve ? I didnt see the GRS myself but i did notice a storm in the MEB.Its worth checking the transit times of the GRS i had to pack up early so i missed it but you should be able to see it with you setup Steve

[Lorne]

Haven't seen it in the few years I've been observing, the sessions of good seeing I had earlier in the year had Jupiter placed quite low in the murky skies/glow from Edinburgh. My more recent sessions with Jupiter well placed, the seeing just wasn't too good.

Got a good few months of dark nights to catch it though. Here's hoping

[stevetynant]

What time was you out last night Steve ? I didnt see the GRS myself but i did notice a storm in the MEB.Its worth checking the transit times of the GRS i had to pack up early so i missed it but you should be able to see it with you setup Steve

What time was you out last night Steve ? I didnt see the GRS myself but i did notice a storm in the MEB.Its worth checking the transit times of the GRS i had to pack up early so i missed it but you should be able to see it with you setup Steve

I was out until about 11 Matt but must admit wasn't concentrating on Jupiter with so much to see around me. I never thought of checking the transit times of the GRS - thats an interesting one- sounds like we're going to get some clear icey conditions in the next few weeks - I'll have to check that out - I really would like to say I've seen it. Cheers Matt

[Blackheart]

Thanks for all the replies

Quite reassuring to know I'm not the only who who has struggled to bag this particular feature. The best view I ever had of Jupiter was from the centre of Edinburgh with an 8" Meade LX10. The amount of detail was staggering, right down to tiny little swirls in the clouds. I still wonder if I dreamed it!

@John... Really impressed that you could see it with an 80mm scope. I often toy with the idea of trading in my big dob for a more manageabloe refractor but then Orion is coming round and I would miss all those beautiful clouds! I can see how people end up with two or three scopes (or five or six!! )

[osteoblast]

I think I saw it for the first time last night with an 8 inch dob. It was about 11pm. I was focussing attention on an area of the upper (from my view) cloubank that was distorted.

[Moonshane]

I see it routinely if it's on display. the trouble is, the GRS is often not on view when I observe - it's just luck - or planning of course. I use a 6" f11 dob and a 16" f4 dob (usually masked to 170mm f11).

if it's possible it's visible but if it's not then it's not. look for the band trainling off to a point and that's where the spot is. last time out I saw a ring of darker edging to the spot and a paler central area at about 250x.-

[Andy McK]

I was out in S Wales aswel last night Andy and as you say conditions were fantastic but personally I had no luck - I can't see it will get better in this respect for a while - I think Jupiter was in opposition on the 3rd I think so not sure I'm likely to see it any time soon. I have an 8 Inch Dob and was using an 8mm Hyperion - it was a beautiful sight but no red spot - what am I doing wrong or is it just an element of right place right time here?

I called it a nite at about 11:30. I started at about 10 ish (Tal 2, 150mm and my 20mm ep,) Jupiter was very bright so I bunged on my Fujitsu bridge camera and tried a few.

I managed to produce what I've had done in the past, but after a spell on Andromeda, I went back to Jupiter at about 11, and observed with my X4 Barlow and my best ep, the 20mm, and had a lovely full disk in the Viewfinder.

To image, I,ve bought a bracket that the EP sits in and a slidie bar and camera mounts on the end, With this arrangement off the OTA, I zoom out the camera to its full extent, and adjust the EP to "sit" in/on the primary lens on the camera, tighten everything up and mount to the draw tube.

With the barlow fitted, finding your target is a bit of a challenge, so i keep my 42mm EP in my pocket to get as close as i can, before swapping to the barlow/camera arrangement

zoom the camera out a bit then zero in.

Now the draw tube sticks out about 75 mm + another 75 mm of barlow + the EP + the camera. vibration is a real problem, but the Tal mount does settle down after about 2 seconds.

I take some exposures to test, then set the self timer to 10 seconds, set exposures to "bracket" adjust the view in the "live view" on the back, and set it off.

I also took a couple of avi's as well, but this is what I managed to get and to be honest, I was very pleased with the result, I have posted this on another thread but I'm so pleased with it, hear you go

I have the GRS and a smaller red/pink spot adjacent to it.

By 11:30 I lost use of my legs and hands with the cold and retired, but this is the good thing about back garden observing, threw everything in the shed and got in, kettle on, jaffa cakes out, while downloading from the camera.

All in all, a very pleasing nite

Sorry guys, i may have gone on a bit....

[freeflyjay]

it appears i must of been very lucky on my 2nd ever look the other day at 300x, grs really clear like a photo and thats from 4m away from a lamp post (ok it was directly behind me) with my 10" dob.

[Moonshane]

one of the many great things about the brighter planets, moon and double stars is that they are pretty unaffected by light pollution so great targets for those suffering from orangey skies.

[earth titan]

When seeing is good and the GRS in the right place it is brilliant in my C9.25. It's rare though as when good seeing comes along, the GRS is invariably on the wrong side.

Last good view (about 2 weeks ago) I got the GRS and detail in it as well. Don't be tempted to push the magnification too much as you will lose detail. I find it best at 8 or 9mm under my skies. Any more it starts to blur too much.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[ubertank]

I was lucky enough to see it recently, on my second time out ever. It was very cool.

[Moonshane]

it's clearly visible right now

[bomberbaz]

I really should go out cos its so high in the sky and weather is perfect but having just got in, I am to tired and i am nice n warm, tomorrow night maybe