Europa shadow transit 3/5/16

[mikeDnight]

The sky was covered with thin cloud and I probably wouldn't have bothered setting the scope up If it wasn't for Stu's post about Europa transiting Jupiter, and with the GRS also on view it sounded like a worthwhile venture.The seeing was steady, though the cloud did wash out the view a little, giving a milky haze to the image. The milky view got worse towards the end of the session.

Within only a few minutes of starting observing I noticed Europas shadow on the following limb and sitting on the northern edge of the NEB. Also on the northern edge of the NEB was a prominent, bright white oval. Several festoons draped from the NEB's southern edge, extending down to the Equatorial Band. The most prominent feature on the SEB was of course the GRS hollow and a rather orange GRS. Both the NTB and STB appeared double. More subtle details within the belts and zones were only hinted at due to the thin cloud spoiling the view. Europa itself appeared as a perfect tiny disc as it entered the limb darkening of the proceeding limb and its tiny globe was observable with ease long after it had ended transiting.

Mike

[Piero]

Thanks Mike for another lovely sketch! The second one is quite similar to what I observed, particularly for the GRS, although your sketches show considerably more details for the equatorial belts.

Very nice!

[Pete Presland]

That is very well sketched, i had a quick look myself. 

[laudropb]

Very nice sketches showing a similar view to what I had last night, but unfortunately the clouds closed in before I could catch the view of Europa itself.