Question about Jupiter

[blueroom]

I had lovely clear skies last night but when I looked at Jupiter I wasn't able to get a good focus on it as I have done previously. Jupiter seemed to be "shimmering" a lot, I could just about see its 2 bands (with a Barlow).

Am I correct in saying this is because of the atmosphere or the air quality?

[John]

That sounds like poor seeing conditions. Often the view gets steadier and sharper if you reduce the magnification.

[ronin]

There are several layers up there to get in the way and cause problems. Some say 5 layers some say 4 and all say "at least". So there could be more or most likely layers within layers.

Using a 5 layer model:

Troposphere - where we are

Stratosphere - odd one, warmer as you go higher.

Mesosphere

Thermosphere - another where the temperature increases with height.

Exosphere - very high although satellites LEO's wander through it.

Some group Thermosphere and Exosphere as the Ionisphere - aurora occur in here

Disturbance in any one or most likely between and 2 will degrade what you see.

Also a local effect called the Jetstream also causes disturbance.

[fondofchips]

We always get more pollution etc trapped in the lower atmosphere when High pressure is present.

It creates a condition known as inversion, normally the temperature drops as you gain altitude and get away from ground level.

Sometimes this does not happen & effectively a cap is put on the atmosphere.

The pollution/smog is at a lower level than normal and will obscure vision from Earth to space more than usual.

We have had high pressure since the 16th of February so the visibilty has probably been affected by the trapped pollution/smog.

More info here - http://geography.about.com/od/climate/a/inversionlayer.htm

[blueroom]

Thanks guys very useful information.