Another lovely Jupiter session in progress

[John]

Jupiter is looking rather interesting again this evening. I've got my ED120 refractor out and 150x is delivering great views of the GRS transit. The large, arching festoon that was seen by many a few nights back is still there - it's opposite the GRS across the equatorial zone at the current time. 3 Galilean moons are clustered around their host planet tonight. Nice sight

I believe Io and Ganymede will transit tonight so I hope it stays clear.

Anyone else enjoying the views ?

[kerrylewis]

100% cloud here John. 

 

[Davey-T]

And here, forecast once again says clear and once again it's wrong. fourth or fifth night running it's been wrong.

Dave

[astronymonkey]

Cloudy here too. Shame really as I have a 127mak that Ive been wanting to try on a GRS and moon transit but not had chance yet. Cheers

[Knighty2112]

Grrrrrr......wall to wall cloud here again! ???

[g30rg313]

I was watching Jupiter earlier and and saw Io Europa and Ganymede all clustered very close to Jupiter.   Poor Calisto was off on its own.  I kept seeing between Calisto and Jupiter what I thought was another moon so in effect 5 moons but that's not right is it?  Perhaps a very faint star?  Or maybe just my eyes playing tricks.

[Saganite]

Likewise, total cloud cover, very disappointng 

[Pete Presland]

100% cloud here in Bedfordshire as well, enjoy your nights viewing.

[Size9Hex]

Cloudy here, but no complaints after some unexpected good views yesterday  

[nameunknown]

 

for those with clouds..

[John]

10 minutes ago, g30rg313 said:

I was watching Jupiter earlier and and saw Io Europa and Ganymede all clustered very close to Jupiter.   Poor Calisto was off on its own.  I kept seeing between Calisto and Jupiter what I thought was another moon so in effect 5 moons but that's not right is it?  Perhaps a very faint star?  Or maybe just my eyes playing tricks.

The next brightest Jovian moon, Amalthea, is around 14th magnitude and it stays pretty close to the planet. I might, possibly, have glimpsed it once with my 12" dobsonian at around 400x but I've not been able to confirm it so I'm not "counting" it as yet.

The other "extra moons" that I've seen around Jupiter have always turned out to be background stars

Sorry that so many have cloudy skies. I'll try not to go on about the views this evening too much .....

 

 

 

[Jimtheslim]

It was forecast for cloud here and so it has come to pass. However what wasn't forecast was a couple of hours clear sky during which I have seen about the first half of the GRS transit. I had 'detected' it, as I would word it, before but tonight I was able to use the 6.4mm and get 156x mag and during moments of clear seeing I could actually 'see' it as such. For the first time I could actually definitely say I was looking at it so I'm pretty happy, just the sort of thing I needed to get back into observing (and maybe convince me to buy that new scope?!). I was always switching between 12.4mm plossl which gave me a nice crisp image but only the merest detection of the GRS and my 6.4mm plossl which allowed me to see it clearly for moments. I do have a 10mm eyepeice that came with the scope but the images obviously weren't as nice as the views with the plossls. So now I need something like a 8 or 9mm plossl I think. 

And yes, seeing 3 of the moons clustered to one side is a magnificent sight.

[Stu]

26 minutes ago, g30rg313 said:

I was watching Jupiter earlier and and saw Io Europa and Ganymede all clustered very close to Jupiter.   Poor Calisto was off on its own.  I kept seeing between Calisto and Jupiter what I thought was another moon so in effect 5 moons but that's not right is it?  Perhaps a very faint star?  Or maybe just my eyes playing tricks.

Cloudy here too, but glad someone is enjoying the views!! ??

There is currently a star between Callisto and Jupiter so I would assume that's what you saw.

 

[John]

Europa is about to go behind the disk more or less as Ganymede and Io start to pass in front of it. Some thin, high cloud here is doing a nice filtering job for me !

[Knighty2112]

A few breaks in the clouds developing, so going to see if I can catch it! Fingers crossed!  

[g30rg313]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Cloudy here too, but glad someone is enjoying the views!! ??

There is currently a star between Callisto and Jupiter so I would assume that's what you saw.

 

Thanks stu that eases my mind.....I know I'm not seeing things then.

[John]

Ganymede and Io have just started their transits. Europa has vanished behind Jupiter. The GRS is in the final quarter of it's transit and Callisto looks rather lonely.

The cloud has thickened a little but the details are still decent. Just waiting for the moons shadows to hit the disk now.

 

[laudropb]

Clouded out here too.

[John]

Cloud layer a lot thicker now. Both Io and Ganymede's shadows are on the disk now but I've lost quite a bit of contrast on the other Jovian features.

I'll keep at it for a little longer then pack in I think.

It's been fun though

 

[Brasspoodle]

Great views in Brisbane Australia last night. Pushed up to 300x in the 12" Dob. Noticed the festoon above and slightly behind the red spot. Put a report up elsewhere. No moon transits this time around sadly. Enjoying your reports :-)

[Knighty2112]

According to Skysafari Ganymedes shadow is not due to start showing on Jupiter for another 20mins. I can only make out 1 shadow when the seeing allows, which is not often!  

[John]

I've packed up now but I was definitely seeing 2 shadows during my last observations (around 25 mins ago). One of the shadows was quite a bit less defined / less dark than the other.

 

[Knighty2112]

Hi clouds rolled in around 25 mins ago too here, plus before that the seeing was going downhill. Either way, at least I got to see a shadow!  

[YKSE]

Just got in after about one and half hours on Jupiter.Average seeing here. some high clouds, 2:nd north visible only intermittenly most of the time. GRS was close to the edge when IO  shadow transit started, 150x to 230x with C8 in binoview. A large pale festoon in south main band, about halfway between GRS and IO shadow. IO shadow looked dark and big, felt like floating above Jupiter, while Ganymede slight above look ghostly faint dark and small, felt like was even closer than IO shadow. It has really been a great Jupiter week for me

[Peter Drew]

Had an unexpected hour viewing Jupiter between 9.30 and 10.30 whilst further testing the 20" F3.5. Thin hazy cloud filtered the over bright image due to poor seeing limiting the magnification. As reportd, nice cluster of moons surrounding the planet. Interesting to see four moons reduced to one in a short space of time. GRS showing a strong orange tint. Clouded out before the shadow transits which was a pity.