GRS looking good

[Stu]

Finally having some lovely views of Jupiter this evening (morning!)

Tak FC-100D with Leica zoom and x2.5 PowerMate, this is giving better views than my BGO's which is normally the case. Backing off the mag a little is helping the contrast, and the GRS is rotating nicely onto the disc. It's looking quite dark and red, with a nice separation from the belt.

Plenty of other detail visible, including what I think is a dark barge fairly centrally positioned currently, plus the lighter belts in the polar regions. Must look up my Jupiter terminology!

Frost on the scope, had to use a hairdryer to clear it just now. Warming up for a few minutes whilst GRS gets better positioned then will head out again.

I've been doing some interesting comparisons between my TAL and the Tak which I will comment on elsewhere. It's rather a harsh comparison for the poor TAL, and I'm pleased to say the Tak does warrant its rather high price!

[John]

It's lovely at the moment isn't it Stu ?

I've got my 12" dob out. I can see a couple of dark barges along the S edge of the NEB. The S edge of the SEB, in advance of the GRS, looks very dark too. Very strong orange to the GRS and a distinct pale rim to it's hollow in the SEB.

Plenty to see and more unfolds as you observe.

Hope it holds good for a while longer !

 

[Stu]

19 minutes ago, John said:

It's lovely at the moment isn't it Stu ?

I've got my 12" dob out. I can see a couple of dark barges along the S edge of the NEB. The S edge of the SEB, in advance of the GRS, looks very dark too. Very strong orange to the GRS and a distinct pale rim to it's hollow in the SEB.

Plenty to see and more unfolds as you observe.

Hope it holds good for a while longer !

 

Picking up the other barge now John, and I'll revise my somewhat dramatic 'red' to agree with your orange ?. Going to pop back out in about 20 mins to catch it centre disc then head to bed.

[John]

I'm popping in and out to the scope, having the odd slurp of chenin blanc as I warm up. Naughty ....... but nice

There seems to be a grey/blue festoon or plume coming off the S side of the NEB opposite the position of the GRS and extending a bit of the way across the equatorial zone.

 

[Stu]

Packed up and warming up now. Best session I've had in a long time. Didn't spot the festoon John but then you had a slight aperture advantage over me ?

Very nice detail visible when the seeing was good. Lucky coinciding of clear skies, GRS and a free night! That doesn't happen often!

Frosty scopes thawing out, at least I managed to dress appropriately to night, no shorts ?

[John]

Great stuff Stu - my scopes in as well

 

[chiltonstar]

7 hours ago, Stu said:

Picking up the other barge now John, and I'll revise my somewhat dramatic 'red' to agree with your orange ?. 

Definitely faded brick-red to me at x225.

Chris

[Stu]

33 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Definitely faded brick-red to me at x225.

Chris

Looked great, didn't it Chris?

Its strange, I went for years thinking I didn't see colour when observing Jupiter, but now see it very clearly. It can only be either the scopes I'm using now or just experience? I know the GRS is darker this year, but I'm sure I've not really seen the colour before, even in my 8" Mak, but last night in the Tak it was clear as anything. Strange indeed.

[chiltonstar]

On 2/16/2016 at 01:23, Stu said:

 

Visible at the moment - absolutely gorgeous! In moments of clearer seeing at x225, it looks to me almost like a reddish eye with a rim, raised above the planet surface  (perspective effect with red I imagine).

Chris

[DevonSkies]

Just came in from looking at it myself. Seeing is poor here at the moment, but the GRS looks a dark red and separation from the cloud belt can be seen when the seeing allows. Well worth a look! I found a Baader Neodynium helped with the contrast in my 10" Dob.

[Piero]

Super stuff stu!

I can see colours on Jupiter quite often. I found it really helps not to be dark adapted, and instead possibly have a look at a street light before observing it.

I don't know if it can be helpful as you already have a reasonable aperture for planets, but a single polarising filter gives my 60mm a noticeable increase in contrast on Jupiter and Venus.

[Stu]

Forecast is looking good for tonight, and GRS transits the meridian at 10.46pm so I hope to have a reasonable session again later.

[Uplooker]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Forecast is looking good for tonight, and GRS transits the meridian at 10.46pm so I hope to have a reasonable session again later.

Me too. Just need to tweak the collimation on my SCT. 10:46 sounds a very respectable time as well.

[Stu]

GRS looking great now, plenty of other detail on the disk too.

[John]

18 minutes ago, Stu said:

GRS looking great now, plenty of other detail on the disk too.

Just waiting for Jupiter to clear the trees here - seems a decent night for planetary observing

[Stu]

Conditions are actually excellent here John. I'm not going to be up too much longer, will just wait for the GRS to transit, but seeing is pretty steady. The Moon is not making life particularly easy but still, the views are great. Amazing what you can see in a decent 4" frac ?

[Moonshane]

Same here with 120ed and nag zoom between 150-180 X is best. Lovely detail around the very obvious grs.

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

Same here with 120ed and nag zoom between 150-180 X is best. Lovely detail around the very obvious grs.

It's quite striking isn't it? I'm around x150, perhaps a little more in the Tak, but the contrast is lovely with the mag not too high.

[bomberbaz]

slightlyannoyed reading this but didnt feel up to it tonight. Slight cold (read man flu) but also had a big op last week and its still knocking me. Enjoy the views guys.

[Stu]

1 minute ago, bomberbaz said:

slightlyannoyed reading this but didnt feel up to it tonight. Slight cold (read man flu) but also had a big op last week and its still knocking me. Enjoy the views guys.

Don't beat yourself up Baz, not quite at opposition yet so there will be plenty of other chances.

Hope you feel better soon

[John]

My scope is still out but I'm plagued with 75% cloud cover here. I'm hoping to catch some views through the "sucker gaps" soon !

Sorry you are feeling unwell Steve - don't worry too much though, "the Jupiter show" has regular repeats !

[Mrbloke]

Thanks for the heads up on this, I was getting ready to go to bed with the moon so bright.  Just nipped (operative word - its freezing here) out for a quick session.  Not enough time to cool the scope properly, but still great views.  GRS very noticeable and several bands visible in both hemispheres.  I even successfully pushed the mag to x277 with a few good glimpses, but x169 gave the best overall views.

[Bart]

Seeing not great here. Got the GRS with nice colour but not fantastically clear. Got some nice clear glimpses, but the cold got the better of me, not to mention my back killing me. Came in to watch our political leaders waffle on incessantly pretending to debate issues, dear oh dear.......

[Fozzie]

Seeing not too bad... rekon I'm pushing x240 is with the binoviewers and f11.. first time I've seen the grs and boy does it stand out a mile.. nice disk features with 4 (just make them out) and definative polar shading too... probably the best view of Jupiter for me yet... could be here for a bit longer!

[GavStar]

I'm getting great views of the GRS tonight too -  it's the most red I've seen it and really pops out from the belt. Seems like I've got virtually the same set up as Stu with a tak fc100df. However, this year I'm using binoviewers and I've very pleased with the views even though it's a bit of a faff to get them set up compared with just one eyepiece.

My magnification is only meant to be 100x ish but it seems more than that. Im going to see if I get an estimate from looking at the moon.