My big night with Jupiter

[kennyboy]

The other night I looked out of my bedroom window and saw a bright star in the SE just above the horizon. I checked with Stellarium and it was Jupiter! So tonight (all being well) I will be looking 148 degrees and alt 9 degrees at 1 am and hopefully will get my first look at Jupiter through my 127 MAK.

Ken

[algol]

good luck ken, not seen the big lad yet and doesn't look like i will this year from my alt.

[kennyboy]

Can you believe it, set everything up and waited...all was clear until 12.40 and guess what? Yes it clouded up from the east Clear skies ALL day and all night until 20 mins before I intended to look at Jupiter. O well time for bed.

Night night

Ken

[algol]

hey ken it cleared at mine mate and i bagged the big lad at bout half one/ twenty to two.

mint.

[kennyboy]

Algol, well done mate. I did manage to take another look from the bedroom just before I jumped into bed and i just managed to see it with my 20x80 bins but it was under a bit of cloud. Looks like June is the best time to see it this year. I see you sketched Jupiter...do you ever use a web cam? Best wishes, ken

[algol]

i wish ken, not got the funds really or indeed the know how to do webcam photography ii think, tempting though.

i occasionally afocal but the camera is naff and has no optical zoom and only limited exposure control.

my first true sketch too. i came in about two, half hour too early otherwise ganymede and GRS would ahve been visible, but when i looked out window before gettin back in bed it had slipped into a cloud bank here too mate.

[rusirius]

Two nights ago we had a rare occasion of a clear night and we saw Jupiter just after midnight for the fist time this year. Using my wifes hastily set up Skywatcher 120 we could clearly see some features on the planet surface including two dark lines above and below the equator and my wife remarked on some colouration at one of the polar regions. We could also see the four Gallilean moons, two of them appearing to be very close to one another. Jupiter is a wonderful sight to behold. The clouds had rolled in last night and are here again tonight so unfortunately no chance of another viewing tonight either.

[kniclander]

I saw jupiter two nights ago through 20x80 bins at about 11pm but I am in Serbia (lat 44) at the moment so my southern horizon is lower \ (higher?) - (at least things in the south appear higher in the sky. Will get the scope (150 dob) out next clear night.

[kennyboy]

I stayed up last night until 1am and saw Jupiter with my 127 Mak and 8mm Hyperion lens. I was blown away!! Could see pink banding and at least 6 moons. Thats another Ive bagged I was really suprised how big it was in my scope.

Regards, Ken.

[algol]

6 moons? oh that's showing off ken lol, i was chuffed taht i saw the 4th one last night.

any idea what the six you saw where?

[kennyboy]

Hi Mate, lol it might have been 4 but I was certain I could see a couple of moons very close together. Next time I will check with Stellerium

Lovely clear skies tonight

All the best

Ken

PS I like the Genesis quote

[algol]

lol cheers mate, it's a quote that rings true when out at night.

i use sky and telescopes jupiter moon java, as well as jupsat a dl program for pc.

[GazOC]

I'm pretty sure you can only see 4 Jovian moons with a 5" Mak.

[Alan53]

I think Jupiter is my favorite planet to do long term viewing,,, Im talking like about 3 or 4 hours as you can catch a moon or it's shadow travel across or come from behind the planet or watch the GRS move across,,,just love it.

Al

[GazOC]

I agree Al, Saturn is beautiful but Jupiter has a lot more activity and surface detail.

[SteelRat]

Yup - a good shadow transit is pretty amazing.

[algol]

yah agreed i thought nothing could top saturn, how wrong i was.

[kennyboy]

Time I got my eyes tested Agreed Jupiter is so interesting in the scope. I wanted to look longer but it was moving out of my sight. But the detail was very impressive in the 127 Mak. It certainly lives up to its reputation as a good scope for planetary viewing. I may get a DOB 10" for deep sky viewing. I was told the DOB is not good for planetary viewing because you have to operate it manually, is this true? Ken

[John]

Time I got my eyes tested Agreed Jupiter is so interesting in the scope. I wanted to look longer but it was moving out of my sight. But the detail was very impressive in the 127 Mak. It certainly lives up to its reputation as a good scope for planetary viewing. I may get a DOB 10" for deep sky viewing. I was told the DOB is not good for planetary viewing because you have to operate it manually, is this true? Ken

I use an 8 inch F6 dob for planetary viewing and I find it works well IF (and for some its a big IF) you don't mind the frequent delicate nudging required to keep objects in the field of view at high powers). Luckily I have some Nagler eyepieces which have a very wide field of view so the objects remain in view that much longer. The dob's are just Newtonian scopes on a simple mount of course - newtonians offer the most aperture for each £ spent and more aperture does bring more detail

John

[Alan53]

Ken I think it's all on how you care to do it,,, some like goto's and tracking and their are some still around like me that enjoy the old way of viewing manual I have a Zhumell 12"er and I love it for both planets and dos, for myself I like the hands on no bottons no motors for crusing the skies. I also have the Orion 127 Mak, manual that is great on planets and some dos. Now when I start trying to take pic's then I will pull out my Orion 100ed refractor with tracking. Thats the only time I will use motors and bottons.

Al

[barkis]

Kenny, there are ways to motorise a Dobsonian. You can have a simple hand control that will just nudge the scope around in Azimuth and Declination to keep the object in view.

Or more sophisticated control on a platform simulating an equatorial mount. It is able to track the sky and even goto. Of course it is a pricey operation.

Much cheaper to nudge manually

Ron.

[George]

good luck ken, not seen the big lad yet and doesn't look like i will this year from my alt.

Same here, I spotted Jup on Sunday morning between houses....no chance of visual or imaging thru the scope for me this year....AGAIN

[kennyboy]

Thanks for the infos on DOBS. Any suggestions which make and size to go for? Ken.

[Jonileth]

Got the first view of jupiter this year through my new scope, and apart from the fact that i couldn't go much above 60X magnification, (due to atmosphere) the views were superb. Saw 4 moon, loads of cloud bands and i was sure i saw the spot, when it gets a bit higher i should be able to confirm this

Jonileth

[kennyboy]

Hi Jonileth, congratulations!! What scope did you use? I used a 127 Mak with my 8mm Hyperion while Jupiter was about 9% up and got a very good view. Regards Ken.