GOOD MORNING JUPITER !

[cotterless45]

There that woke you up !

Up at 4, still half awake walking out into the garden and looking up a a giant planetarium view.It was dark , crystal and very clear. Bless the Alpacca and the socks he provides, mmmm warm feet.

Got the 10" Dob out, there's nothing like the excitement of setting up heavy gear. Put my little wooden seating table out with it's fluffy cushion and we're off.( Someone mistook it for a white cat recently !)

Jupiter was just staggering. So very bright that I used an old Moon filter. One of those really dark ones with "Moon" on the top. Get one !

First thing I notice was the large shadow to the left between the belts and the smaller crisp dark one just off centre right and lower in the equatorial zone. This being Ganymede and shadow, nice.

Over twenty minutes all move to the left, the edges of the belts showing details of varying thickness, brightness and ragged edges. Seeing got a bit wobbly as it passed lower over the town.

Up to Leo and a very bright view of the triplet galaxies, don't think I've seen them that bright from here. Got up to x100 and they were still bright.

As was M13, just magnificent , got up to x150, the bright foreground stars really sparkled. Over to M3 which for it's subtlety I prefer. Again dainty foreground gems and an intense core make this a sight. Easy to find just half way from Arcturus to Cor Coroli .

Heading down from the rear of Leo I spotted a mass of Virgo galaxies. I've never seen them so bright. No charts, just enjoyed the view. Not often we see the Melotte and corner stars to Coma Bernices from here. Swinging down I found M53 and the smaller globular to the left.

Up to Ursa Major and my nemesis of M108 and I actually got the owl of M97.

A x40 view of M51 showed both bits. I was surprised to see how much brighter NGC 5195 was, even the 'connector' was there. At x100 it was just stunning. Just hang a 10mm Hyperion on it.

A bright Saturn peeped up, too low for the Dob and at just past 6.26 the ISS glided over, very high and bright.

A really beautiful morning, couldn't resist a view of M57 and the double double as Lyra and Cygnus were rising in the north east.

I'm a fan of refractors and GOTO, but nothing is more satisfying than a bit of aperture and swinging a Dob around under those,

Clear skies!

Nick.

[Qualia]

Lovely report, Nick and it's great to hear you had a such a productive early morning session. I think you nearly bagged every type of celestial object that could be seen

[alan potts]

Lovely report as always Nick. There is something about the 4 o'clock sky, I get up at around this time to put wood in the heater system. I have looked out a few times of late but only managed to shake off the bed anchor the once, new scope soon so we will see if weight gets any lighter .

Alan

[stevend]

Can you please arrange for a repeat of those conditions on Saturday morning for the triple shadow transit ?

[cotterless45]

That would just be a Jovian joy. I'm looking around at something to sacrifice,

Nick.

[Stu]

Great fun to read Nick.

If you are going to get up at 4am, I can think of nothing better than a nice relaxed look up [emoji3]

[jetstream]

Awesome Nick! Great to hear about the Triplet again, can't wait!

[Astro Imp]

Great write up Nick.

I think we are all hoping for good conditions for Saturday's big Jovian event.

Good luck and clear skies.

[Stu]

Thanks for the heads up all, had missed that one somehow. Looks like an early one then?

Skysafari shows two of the shadows overlapping close to Io at around 5.51am. Could be interesting to view.

[FenlandPaul]

Great productive session and lovely write-up as always! It's got me excited about late spring constellations being accessible at a sociable hour (if I had my way I'd always do early morning sessions, but the very patient Mrs Fenland draws the line at that. Fair nuff!).

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