This mornings observation

[Nathan UK]

Good morning the fine people of sgl....

as a good handful of you know I'm rather new to astronomy....

unfortunatly for the past two weeks my health hasn't been too good so on them brief nights between being cloudy and clear I haven't been able to enjoy viewing with my scope.

the past few days I haven't been hitting my pillow until 9am and I have been viewing Jupiter out the window wishing I was well enough to go out to the garden and take a more magnified peek.

I'm pleased to say this morning was the morning!

my first view of Jupiter and its moons!!!

i didn't need to star hop as I could see it clearly by eye! And sky map confirmed my suspicions that the bright star in the sky was my target days ago!

im also very happy with my scope

the swe130p , I didn't except viewing to be so good!!!

firstly I put in my 25mmEP which gave me a mag of x26

jupiter looked like a bright star with its moons orbiting to the right ,

still amazing although lacking and other detail,

next up was my 10mm which upped the mag to x65 ....

again lacking detail as before but a little bigger,

then I put in my UWA 4mm plossl

and omg!!!! Totally blown away!!!

this gave me x162.5 ...

i could clearly see two bands after a couple of seconds of eye adjustment. Bare in mind I'm in a heavily light polluted area ,The moons where a lot bigger but still looked like stars,

i have to say this has really made my day!

What a beautiful sight to behold and one more target off my list.

i know apperture is king and I would prefer a 8" scope all day in the bay but I do recommend the scope I have to anyone waiting to try viewing the heavens.

on a side note, tried a planetary filter with the 4mm EP....

made no difference except the fact a gallilaon moon disappeared (if I named the moons correctly )

clear sky's guys 

[Stu]

Sounds like an excellent session Nathan, glad you got good views.

Don't ever think of Jupiter as something to be ticked off the list. For many of us it is a regular companion over the years, and shows an ever changing view. The Great Red Spot can be seen moving across the surface when it is in view, and more belts, festoons and barges (darker spots) can be seen. 

As for the Galilean moons, they are always in different positions, and regularly go into eclipse behind or transit the surface of Jupiter. You can even see the shadows cast by the moons on the surface. It's an amazing planet.

[Paul73]

Great isn't it! Just wait until you see Saturn.

Download the Sky & Telescope Jupiter's Moons app. This will show you when the Great Red Spot is visible and times of the moons' shadow transits across the face of the planet.

The shadow transits are the best, but can be quite hard to spot.

You'll never get bored of Jupiter.

Thanks for posting your first view. I enjoyed the read.

Paul

[Paul73]

Damn. Stu can type fast!!!

[Nathan UK]

34 minutes ago, Stu said:

Sounds like an excellent session Nathan, glad you got good views.

Don't ever think of Jupiter as something to be ticked off the list. For many of us it is a regular companion over the years, and shows an ever changing view. The Great Red Spot can be seen moving across the surface when it is in view, and more belts, festoons and barges (darker spots) can be seen. 

As for the Galilean moons, they are always in different positions, and regularly go into eclipse behind or transit the surface of Jupiter. You can even see the shadows cast by the moons on the surface. It's an amazing planet.

Ticked off the list as a new observation not ticked off the list completely , I will enjoy viewing this planet a lot more ,thanks for your reply mate

[Nathan UK]

30 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Great isn't it! Just wait until you see Saturn.

Download the Sky & Telescope Jupiter's Moons app. This will show you when the Great Red Spot is visible and times of the moons' shadow transits across the face of the planet.

The shadow transits are the best, but can be quite hard to spot.

You'll never get bored of Jupiter.

Thanks for posting your first view. I enjoyed the read.

Paul

Jupiter is amazing mate! Wanted to see it for some time!

and Saturn is one I really desire to see.

thanks for your post and tip on the App mate

 

[cloudsweeper]

Nice one Nathan!  Every time you view Jupiter the Galilean moons will be in different positions - different sides and not always in a line with the planet.  And quite often at least one will be in front of or behind Jupiter.  A fascinating display!

Remember to identify them with Stellarium.

Doug.

[Nathan UK]

52 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Nice one Nathan!  Every time you view Jupiter the Galilean moons will be in different positions - different sides and not always in a line with the planet.  And quite often at least one will be in front of or behind Jupiter.  A fascinating display!

Remember to identify them with Stellarium.

Doug.

Thanks Doug, I believe there's 4 moons? I forgot to note I could only see 3

[Woolnut]

I cannot wait until i get to take my first proper look at Jupiter (and Saturn)

[Nathan UK]

Just now, Woolnut said:

I cannot wait until i get to take my first proper look at Jupiter (and Saturn)

Saturns next at the top of my list,

upto now I've seen the obvious 

(our moon)

the andromeda

venus

the Orion Nebula 

jupiter and its moons.

its been a productive few weeks

[Woolnut]

1 minute ago, Nathan UK said:

Saturns next at the top of my list,

upto now I've seen the obvious 

(our moon)

the andromeda

venus

the Orion Nebula 

jupiter and its moons.

its been a productive few weeks

Very good going! I am really struggling to get the weather when i have the time to match up... It seems when i am at work the weather is great; when i am off work the weather sucks!

[Nathan UK]

The weathers against us a lot in Liverpool as well at the moment but I'm too sick to work right now so when I feel upto it I can observe, you will get ur turn buddy

[Woolnut]

3 minutes ago, Nathan UK said:

The weathers against us a lot in Liverpool as well at the moment but I'm too sick to work right now so when I feel upto it I can observe, you will get ur turn buddy

Yeah i bet, sunny Liverpool  Hope you get better soon!

[Nathan UK]

50 minutes ago, Woolnut said:

Yeah i bet, sunny Liverpool  Hope you get better soon!

Unfortunatley I won't but thanks for your good wishes, I have a condition called M.E. I can have weeks where I'm ok and could do a cart wheel and weeks where I'm bed bound and suffering from nerve pain , muscle spasms ect so it's a bit of a vicious circle ....

on the bright side some weeks I'm pretty much as normal and energetic as everyone else and it's not life threatening so it could of been worse so I won't complain ?

[Nyctimene]

Nice writeup, that shows your enthusiasm quite well; please continue!

Have you thought about keeping some sort of astro diary/logbook (paper version)? To me, it's very rewarding, when I'm reading about my first clumsy steps in stargazing more than forty years ago, and reflecting my way up to now!

Stephan

[laudropb]

Well done. Your first view of Jupiter is always a wow moment that you will never forget.

[Nathan UK]

8 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Well done. Your first view of Jupiter is always a wow moment that you will never forget.

Agreed mate it certainly was

[Nathan UK]

15 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:

Nice writeup, that shows your enthusiasm quite well; please continue!

Have you thought about keeping some sort of astro diary/logbook (paper version)? To me, it's very rewarding, when I'm reading about my first clumsy steps in stargazing more than forty years ago, and reflecting my way up to now!

Stephan

Thanks mate, yes it is something I plan on doing....

unfortunately my observations I have done have been brief and spare of the moment because of my health ups and downs but I do plan on keeping a record and adding to it my posts from here

[cloudsweeper]

5 hours ago, Nathan UK said:

Thanks Doug, I believe there's 4 moons? I forgot to note I could only see 3

Yes Nathan - the ones you usually see are the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  I've observed with Io in occultation (hidden behind Jupiter), and have seen  Ganymede's shadow transit (in front, casting a shadow on Jupiter's surface).

Keep looking for more treasures!

Doug.

[Stu]

I've posted this quite a few times before, but here it is again. An iPhone shot, handheld through the eyepiece of my scope last year. The actual visual view was far better, but you can see two of the moons, and a shadow on the planet. I think there is also one more just creeping out from behind. It's amazing stuff!

[John]

Congratulations on seeing Jupiter for the 1st time

My 1st view of the planet was over 40 years ago and it still enthralls me today !

While Saturn is spectacular, Jupiter is much more variable on an hour, to hour, night to night basis and there is always something going on there

The more time you spend observing Jupiter, the more detail you will see. It is amazing how much detail a small to medium aperture scope can reveal but you need time at the eyepiece to achieve this.

I also find that the best detail on Jupiter comes by backing off the magnification slightly. Saturn and Mars seem to benefit from really quite high magnfications but Jupiter seems to show more detail and more contrast at slightly lower powers.

 

 

[Size9Hex]

Nice one Nathan, glad you've had a chance to enjoy the view. Jupiter is an absolute wonder. Brilliant for the first view and repaying regular visits. Seeing the Great Red Spot for the first time is one of my astro highlights for sure. Don't worry too much about your light pollution in terms of viewing Jupiter - it's so bright it punches through. With patience you may start to see other more subtle bands around the planet and detail in the main bands. It's fabulous to see the orbital mechanics play out in real time in front of you too. In a single session you can see the planet rotating and the the moons moving around - crossing in front of the planet or going into eclipse too if you're lucky!

[Nathan UK]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

I've posted this quite a few times before, but here it is again. An iPhone shot, handheld through the eyepiece of my scope last year. The actual visual view was far better, but you can see two of the moons, and a shadow on the planet. I think there is also one more just creeping out from behind. It's amazing stuff!

What settings or app did you use on  your iphone to take this snap Stu? I'm going to start taking pics myself and have a iPhone holder/adapter.

nice photo I appreciate you posted it

[Nathan UK]

4 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Yes Nathan - the ones you usually see are the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  I've observed with Io in occultation (hidden behind Jupiter), and have seen  Ganymede's shadow transit (in front, casting a shadow on Jupiter's surface).

Keep looking for more treasures!

Doug.

Thanks Doug I  will for sure mate

[Nathan UK]

2 hours ago, John said:

Congratulations on seeing Jupiter for the 1st time

My 1st view of the planet was over 40 years ago and it still enthralls me today !

While Saturn is spectacular, Jupiter is much more variable on an hour, to hour, night to night basis and there is always something going on there

The more time you spend observing Jupiter, the more detail you will see. It is amazing how much detail a small to medium aperture scope can reveal but you need time at the eyepiece to achieve this.

I also find that the best detail on Jupiter comes by backing off the magnification slightly. Saturn and Mars seem to benefit from really quite high magnfications but Jupiter seems to show more detail and more contrast at slightly lower powers.

 

 

thanks mate I will keep these mag tips in mind John