Gannymede shadow transit this pm

[Owmuchonomy]

Had a great view of the transit after tea. Plum in the middle of the two main Equatorial bands. Even the neighbours joined in over a glass of wine. The weather was kind, warm and still. The clouds have just rolled in from the North so we have withdrawn inside.

Venus was also incredibly well behaved. Normally it's a wobbly mess but not this afternoon. About 3/4 lit at the moment.

[ghostdance]

I was lucky enough to catch both - tho Venus was not great it was possible to see the disc shape and (averted imagination I think) I thought I was seeing some faint detail on Venus but much more likely to have been due to the hazy cloud and shimmer...it did persist tho. My eyes playing tricks.

I caught the tail end of Ganymede's transit - could just make out the shadow. What was utterly lovely was to see the bright nub of Ganymede emerge so shyly from Jupiter's immensity....first a barely perceptible dot, then a coy bright nubbin peeking out, then a slow almost reluctant separation....beautiful. Clouds rolled in and took the ISS with them, sadly... In for a cup of tea. But I went out again just after 10 to see another moon shadow on Jupiter. I was surprised (and pleased, my first double! ) as the four moons were clearly some way off.... But I'm guessing this second shadow was Io? Being new to transits, I had thought shadows were only observable when a moon was crossing/about to cross Jupiter's face - but very happy to see I was mistaken!

Just as an aside, I'm tickled pink by my new 9mm BGO (thanks Shane!) What a superb eyepiece! Sharp and clear as all get out.

Just to round off the night, lying in bed now waiting for Jupiter to hove into view so I can do a bit of a possum-binocular session, then a bit of Jules Verne, then zzzzzzzz......

[jkwhinfrey]

I think the shadow transit at around 22:00 was Ganymede's believe it or not.

I managed to catch the end of the moon's transit amid lots of cloud. 3 moons just visible in the murk, and as you said ghostdance, another just a hint of a separation from Jupiter's limb which increased as I watched :-)

I came out again just before 22:00 to a slightly improved sky and at 22:07 could clearly make our a shadow on the opposite limb. I popped inside to check Astronomy Now, and it seems that shadow belongs to Ganymede, and it started its transit at 22:01. Shows just how far away the moons are.

James

[ghostdance]

Thanks James.... That would make sense, meaning the faint dot of shadow I saw earlier between the belts, was Ganymede itself then! Wow, I did not think I'd be able see an actual moon against Jupiter! Great stuff!

The shadow at 10 was *much* more clearly defined than the earlier one - I had thought the latter was so dim due to seeing, but apparently I must've caught the moon itself

Very happy bunny!

Now to finish off my couple of sketches of the transit, correctly labelled. Thanks!

Steve

[WaveSoarer]

I managed to see this shadow transit also. It was a bit clearer in south Oxfordshire I expect but the haze that we did have here must have helped make the air reasonably stable. Certainly the seeing was the best I've experienced for a while and the shadow was a crisp black little disc against the planet. It almost looked like a hole had been drilled into Jupiter there was such strong contrast.

[ghostdance]

Yes, I think ( guess) the haze may have helped me in seeing Ganymede itself, due I suppose to lower contrast enabling me to view it. Some fair detail in the belts too, even in my little 6". Could make out the two bands (can't think of their names) either side of the main belts, between them and the N&S zones. The later shadow was *really* clear and definite as you say, Wavesoarer. On to the next transit this evening, and the GRS...and a hopefully good view of the ISS. I'll wave!

[cotterless45]

Very sharp shadow transit, very sharply defined . The background was quite mushy though,

Nick.

[Tomjo59]

Well, the best view of Jupiter I've had since getting this 'scope, and what an opportune night for it! A magnification of x160 was good for me - might have gone higher, but not really necessary.

Very good seeing here in S. Wiltshire - looking at the Met Office surface pressure map, looks like we are getting dryer air coming up from the continent, which helped.

Plenty of detail visible in the N. and S Equatorial belts, and a very clear (pale orange) GRS. Topped off with a superb shadow transit - shadow very sharp and black.

The Sky and Telescope utility for Jovian moon predictions says that this was the shadow of Europa though!

[lunator]

The seeing the last few days has been pretty good with moments of exceptionally steady air.

I have been using mostly x200 and x150 on my 8" Dob and the detail on the bands and the GRS has been fantastic.

Seeing the IO shadow transit and the emergence of Ganymede from the disc has been the icing on the cake.

Venus has show a decent phase as well

Cheers

Ian

[jkwhinfrey]

I quite agree about the seeing recently. I've found the transparency to be pretty poor (lots of high thin cloud I suspect) but it's been accompanied by some beautifully still moments.

Jupiter has been a great target: bright enough to beat the transparency and lots (really lots) of action over the last couple of days. I got the best view I've experienced of the GRS and SEB detail last night :-)) Oh, and another transiting moon and accompanying shadow (Europa), and a Jovian moon occultation too (Callisto and Europa).

A little sad that Jupiter will be fading into the daylight by the end of the month, but there's always plenty more to see.

James

[Cath]

[Scosmico]

Hope you all enjoyed the event. I have invited the neighbours to come over and see Jupiter for the first time. Nice to hear theirs wow. First we saw gabinetes leaving the disk and a bit later the shadow appeared. Amazing. The image was so solid. I managed 300x mag. At the corner of Jupiter the shadow seems alongside. Just minutes after cost touch.

Great

[Scosmico]

Hope you all enjoyed the event. I have invited the neighbours to come over and see Jupiter for the first time. Nice to hear theirs wow. First we saw gabinetes leaving the disk and a bit later the shadow appeared. Amazing. The image was so solid. I managed 300x mag. At the corner of Jupiter the shadow seems alongside. Just minutes after cost touch.

Great