Discovery: Jupiter has a Great Grey Spot!

[David55]

I should like to announce that I have discovered a great grey spot in one of the cloud bands on Jupiter. Or rather that I have rediscovered the Great Red Spot others have reported seeing before!

It's now dark when I get ready for work at 5:30am and this morning the sky was particularly clear after several days of wind and rain. So what better time to try out my new 6mm Williams Optics lens with my Skywatcher 200p dob, giving x200 magnification?

At first I could hardly see the bands of Jupiter at all, but after waiting 10 minutes for the scope to cool down a bit (longer than that and I'd pay for it by getting stuck in traffic on the M25) I suddenly had my first ever view of the Great Red Spot. Or grey spot as it looked to me.

To prove it, I checked the useful little iPhone app, 'Jupiter Guide', which indeed confirmed that it was visible at that moment from earth. I'd have liked to have spent longer allowing the scope to stabilise further, but that will have to await a non-working day. For now though this was a thrilling discovery and a great way to start the working week.

[TwoPi]

Fantastic David, nice report! The 6mm WO gives lovely views with the 200P doesn't it.

I believe that good seeing is more common before dawn - it sounds like you had a nice stable atmosphere (I have never yet persuaded myself to get out of bed for an early morning viewing session so can't confirm this from personal experience )

[John]

Congratulations on spotting the GRS (or GGS !) David 

It's had this rather faded pale greyish coloration for some years now. I've seen some hints of pink with my 12" on nights of really good seeing but often it's, as you say, more of a grey. On the very best nights my 12" scope has shown some details within the GRS itself, which was pretty thrilling

Whats great about Jupiter is how quickly things change there. After viewing for even just 30 mins you notice the features have moved as the disk rotates and you have the satellite shadow and disk transits to spot too.

This applet gives the timing when the GRS crosses the central meridian of the planet so is useful for determining it's visibility (or not) at a particular time:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/3304091.html?page=1&c=y

And this one gives the positions of the 4 brightest moons and transit / occultation timings:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/jupiter

Always something going on at Jupiter so its always worth spending some time on when it's well placed 

[cotterless45]

Probably one of the most interesting planets to view. Over the course of an evening you can watch the rotation and the changing position of the moons. Storm belts disappear and odd spots appear along with festoons and barges.

I try and keep going back to view especially with long clear winter nights over the last few years. Although Saturn has been stunning, Jupiter just changes so wonderfully,

Nick.