My best Jupiter system observation

[RK93]

Hello!

This is my old observing report from one winter night- December 26/27th, 2014. I decided to post it here, because it was an amazing experience.

I still owned my 7-year old, 8" Dobsonian then. And during my 7 years of obsering, I've never experienced weather conditions quite like then (26/27 Dec).

The seeing was unbelievable. It was a 10/10. It was like the atmosphere didn't exist at all. I had an impression of watching a picture, not a real image. With 6mm NLV eyepiece and 2x Barlow lens (400x), the picture was completely steady. No movement at all. The detail on Jupiter was incredible, I could see the irregularity at the edges of cloud belts. I also detected cloud belts I didn't ever see before. 

But the best part was the Galilean moons. The disks of Ganymede (1.6") and Callisto (1.3") were just obvious, and disks of Io (1.1") and Europa (0.9")- clearly visible, but noticeably smaller. I couldn't believe my own eyes.

I was watching this for about 2 hours, until I went back home, freezing cold, still thinking about the scene I just witnessed.

I didn't even think that Europa's disk can be seen from the Earth using such a modest equipment. 

It was a night to remember. And after 9 months, I still have a smile on my face when I recall it. 

Radek

[Astromaster130]

That sounds incredible mate, excellent report, heres hoping to having that experience one day

[laudropb]

It's those very occasional nights like that that keep us coming back for more. Thanks for posting and raising my hopes for nights to come.

[orion25]

Beautiful, Radek. Inspirational to say the least. There's nothing like an excellent night of seeing 

[Charic]

A nice report. I too have a very memorable image of Jupiter, and if I study my previous texts, I could possibly establish the exact date, but whatever the date, these images, now burnt to memory, do not come around very often. They are very special moments when everything just works fine, and sometimes only for a few moments.

For everyone else, if it has'nt happened yet, your time will come!

[Ronnie67]

I don't suppose you got a picture, would have loved to see it 

[xtreemchaos]

lovely report mate,those night dont come round too often but when thay do its amazing. thanks for sharing   charl

[niallk]

Great report! Back when I first got my 10" dob, I got up early one morning to see Saturn. It was before I purchased TV eps or my binoviewer. That morning at 4am Saturn looked strange. It was incredibly crisp, no wobble - perfectly still and so sharply defined. Just as your comment - like a photo. Oh what I'd give for such seeing conditions again! That morning is burned into my memory, and I need to try for that sort of 4-5am time more often. Seeing the transition to dawn is a nice way to wrap up a session and start the day

[niallk]

Oops - double post