A tremendous Jupiter

[Size9Hex]

An utterly brilliant evening seeing an object of my childhood fascination for the first time. The very essence of everything I hoped that the hobby might be.

It started unpromisingly, with a distinctly low success rate on some binocular doubles while the scope cooled. Quite a contrast to the last session. I now wonder if the moonlight washing across the sky was overwhelming the fainter companion stars. My own inexperience staring me in the face I guess.

Over to the moon, and the seeing seemed decent. 80x was fairly steady. 180x was wobblier of course, but held up well and gave better views overall. Moments of steadiness revealed 3 small craters in a chevron shape inside Plato, with the one dead centre the more obvious of the three. Where is the fourth though! A linear feature in the Alpine Valley was visible, but my sceptism was confirmed when I checked a photo later; My sighting matched the valley wall rather than the rille. A beautiful sight nevertheless.

Tiny craters on the plains north of Copernicus. Too many to count scattered among the patterns of wind blown dust that cover the region so beautifully. Caveat: my imagination, not scientfic fact

The Hippalus Rilles were on very good form in the south, near some lovely sculpted terrain in Humorum. A trio of dark splodges on the floor of Alphonsus looking nice too.

By now, Jupiter was reasonably placed, and for the first time in six or eight viewings, the Great Red Spot was on show. I couldn't help but gasp, and actually felt a little emotional seeing it so many decades after I first read about it. The experience of seeing it in person absolutely smashed every high definition photo I've ever seen of it. I would trade a thousand photos for another look through the eyepiece. The colour and detail astonished me.

The spot itself, intensely saturated with a orangey-brick colour, although the intensity I suspect is over pronounced against the less vibrant surroundings. The southern region of the spot appeared to be darker than the north.

The pale rusty coloured belt to the east had a terrific dark corridor of cloud on its southern boundary which swept beautifully to the north as it approached the eastern side of the spot, and curled south again as it passed the spot on the western side. A pale arc separated the spot from this curl of dark cloud. To the west of the spot the belt was much wider. The planet turned as I watched with the western region of the belt becoming increasingly visible and I eventually saw that it was starting to split into two with a pale stripe down the centre.

Although not the headline event, the northern belt put on a great performance too. More spectacular than I've ever seen it, with a gnarly twisted knotted texture. Two dark grey spots on the southern boundary were quite apparent, with a third joining them from over the horizon as the planet turned. More of those northeast to southwest grey wisps reached down towards the equator too (I know they have a name...!).

Even the polar regions seemed to offer more than usual, with variations of colour and shade. The north in particular gave me a mental impression of a fine marbled texture, although I couldn't pinpoint any of the specifics of it. The texture of the south by contrast had the impression of flat uniformity.

Io and Europa were a beatiful double star that moved apart as I watched. I'm thrilled it was these two particularly; For whatever reason, Ganymede and Callisto don't capture my imagination in quite the same way.

The whole system seemed so alive. From the eyepiece, I was almost standing on the frozen ocean of Europa watching the mechanics unfold in front of me.

I watched Jupiter for around 90 minutes in all. By that time, the constellations had all wondered off, and the appearence of Bootes made me wonder if summer had come. The lack of feeling in my frosty toes told me otherwise. I went to bed disoriented and elated.

[Saganite]

Very nice report Paul, which pretty much covers my observing last night.The moon was very steady at 95X through binoviewers, and very good still with a pair of 12.5's yielding 152X. With the same set up, Jupiter was superb, just as you saw it, lots of detail, though for me , the planet started to shimmer from 11pm onwards, and I gave in at 12.30. 

I tried Trap E & F but unlike last Thursday, when I saw them both, I failed this time.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report of a superb session!

[Stu]

Wonderful report Paul, a great session again and beautifully described. I briefly looked at Jupiter last night in a little scope, still nice but not nearly the level of detail you were seeing. The Spot is certainly darker this year, I've struggled to describe the colour, opting for an inept 'red' but your orangey-brick is spot on.

Surprisingly cold last night, I had frost on the scopes by 9.30pm!

[laudropb]

Very nice report. Lovely description of a very productive session.

[Astro Imp]

Sounds like a great session, very well reported.

[John]

Really good report Paul

I couldn't observe last night for one reason or another but reading your description of the Moon and Jupiter was very enjoyable. Sounds like it was one of those Jupiter sessions when things just "fell into place" for you.

Back on the Moon, one of the "big 4" Plato Cratelets is actually a close pair which sometimes looks like a single crater.

 

 

[StarSapling]

Great report, thanks.

 

[Piero]

Fantastic report and great description, Paul!

Thanks for sharing

[Size9Hex]

3 hours ago, John said:

Back on the Moon, one of the "big 4" Plato Cratelets is actually a close pair which sometimes looks like a single crater.

Thanks John, that's a useful tip. I'll keep my eyes peeled, and fingers crossed for next time :-)

[Size9Hex]

6 hours ago, Saganite said:

Very nice report Paul, which pretty much covers my observing last night.The moon was very steady at 95X through binoviewers, and very good still with a pair of 12.5's yielding 152X. With the same set up, Jupiter was superb, just as you saw it, lots of detail, though for me , the planet started to shimmer from 11pm onwards, and I gave in at 12.30. 

I tried Trap E & F but unlike last Thursday, when I saw them both, I failed this time.

Thanks Steve, it was a superb view wasn't it! Interesting comment on E and F in the Trap. I had almost no luck on doubles last night. The seeing seemed good, but moon was smothering anything faint. Spotting E and F is always a bit of coin flip for me depending on the conditions. I'm not experienced enough to know which way the coin might land until I look though!

[Size9Hex]

6 hours ago, Stu said:

Wonderful report Paul, a great session again and beautifully described. I briefly looked at Jupiter last night in a little scope, still nice but not nearly the level of detail you were seeing. The Spot is certainly darker this year, I've struggled to describe the colour, opting for an inept 'red' but your orangey-brick is spot on.

Surprisingly cold last night, I had frost on the scopes by 9.30pm!

Thanks Stu! That's a really interesting comment about the spot changing. When you've seen it over a few seasons, I can imagine there must be an appeal in seeing how things have changed each time it reappears from behind the sun. When I hear about things like this, or the motion of the Porrima double in recent years, or the latest comet absolutely hurtling through the constellations, or even the Crab Nebula expanding through the historical photos, it makes the galaxy seem so dynamic. Not something I'd ever realised until recently.

[Stu]

12 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

Thanks Stu! That's a really interesting comment about the spot changing. When you've seen it over a few seasons, I can imagine there must be an appeal in seeing how things have changed each time it reappears from behind the sun. When I hear about things like this, or the motion of the Porrima double in recent years, or the latest comet absolutely hurtling through the constellations, or even the Crab Nebula expanding through the historical photos, it makes the galaxy seem so dynamic. Not something I'd ever realised until recently.

Yep, there's always something changing, comets, super novae, plenty going on.

Jupiter is incredibly dynamic. A few years back the SEB disappeared almost completely which was amazing to see. The spot got quite pale for a while but it's nice to see it back to a richer colour lately. Of course the shadow and moon transits are always incredible to watch, such an amazing example of orbital mechanics right in front of our eyes.

I've seen Saturn's rings go through a complete cycle of open to closed, and when I started observing Jupiter and Saturn were close together, and high up in the sky. I feel for people starting out now because the planetary views aren't what they were a while back, and will take quite a few years before they get better due to the current low altitudes.

[Size9Hex]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Yep, there's always something changing, comets, super novae, plenty going on.

Thanks Stu. Really appreciate you taking the time to post, and to attach the photo. I've never seen Jupiter without the southern belt, at the eyepiece or in a photo. Fascinating stuff.

[John]

Just on the Plato craterlets again, here is a useful guide:

My best is 10 of the little blighters !

[Special K]

Wow!!!  Great report. I've yet to see the GRS in such detail so am envious of the result.   In fact, I'd go so far to say I've not seen it properly at all.  Excellent result in a great hobby!

[niallk]

Great report - a very engaging read! Haven't been able to get out in quite a while now - dying to have a look at Jupiter again