First time Jupiter

[David Levi]

Since getting a telescope last August I have been really keen to observe the planets. After viewing Saturn through poor skies as my first view through the telescope I have been looking forward to observing Jupiter. It has been visible in the morning for a couple of months now but I haven't felt motivated enough to get up early to see it, especially as it will be visible in the west later in the year. I've been tempted to get up early but needed the extra push to do it. I couldn't hold back any longer, however, after reading @alanjgreen 's report on his early morning observing session a few days ago. I was so enthused by it that, after checking the weather forecast, I set the alarm for 3.30am this morning and got up with the one goal of viewing Jupiter.

The waxing gibbous moon was still in the sky as I set up in my back garden but I had planned it that way so that by the time the moon had set the telescope would have cooled down and would be ready to start observing. Jupiter would be at its meridian at about 4.30am. I was excited to see two moons and Jupiter just looking through the finderscope. It was a wow moment then to see the planet at 200x magnification using my new Pentax XW 5mm eyepiece. Jupiter was fantastically large and it's moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto were spread out nicely to the right hand side of my view. Callisto nearer to the planet noticeable in being significantly out of the plane of the planet and the other two visible moons. The planet and it's moons were tilted at an appealing angle away from the horizontal. The tilt of the planet being noticeable not only due to the orbit of the moons but also by the light and dark stripes across the planet. The South Equatorial Belt was clearly visible with a white zone above and below it. The seeing was not that good. The edge of the planet shimmering silently. This might have been the reason why it was difficult to distinguish the individual northern belts. The north of the planet was mostly dark only occasionally showing slight thin zones between the belts. The South Tropical Belt and Polar Region were also difficult to separate. I didn't see any red spot in the South Equatorial Belt but maybe it was on the other side of the planet. Anybody know if the red spot is particularly visible at the moment? During the 2 hours that I spent observing the planet I didn't see any movement in the moons but that might be because I was constantly looking at them and therefore not seeing their gradual change. Io did not appear either, from I assume behind Jupiter, during the session.

Now that I have had this introduction to Jupiter, I look forward to viewing it again to see the moons changing position and to observe the bands and hopefully the red spot.

[furrysocks2]

Great report, and a great appreciation for what you saw!

Looking forward to more of Jupiter myself.

[kerrylewis]

Well done David on your first Jupiter.

there are a couple of apps (if you have a smartphone) which give the position and transit times of the great red spot. According to mine you just missed it this morning as it was due to transit at 9.11.

There is always something to see on the planet. Apps,or planetarium software will also give times of moon and moon shadow transits which are fun to watch.

I am sure that you will will have many happy hours in the future with the king of planets 

Kerry 

 

 

 

[David Levi]

Thanks @kerrylewis for the info. I haven't got a smartphone but I'm sure that there must be a web page where I can find out the times of the transit of the great red spot and moons. I'll definitely look it up before I observe Jupiter next time.

[furrysocks2]

4 minutes ago, David Levi said:

Thanks @kerrylewis for the info. I'll haven't got a smartphone but I'm sure that there must be a web page where I can find out the times of the transit of the great red spot and moons. I'll definitely look it up before I observe Jupiter next time.

http://www.shallowsky.com/jupiter/

Quote

Wed Feb 08 2017 04:10:54 GMT+0000 (GMT): Io enters eclipse
Wed Feb 08 2017 05:09:54 GMT+0000 (GMT): Io disappears
Wed Feb 08 2017 07:20:54 GMT+0000 (GMT): Io reappears

 

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/wp-content/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html#

Quote

04:00 UT, Io enters eclipse by Jupiter's shadow.
07:18 UT, Io exits occultation behind Jupiter.

 

[David Levi]

Thanks @furrysocks2. Now I have a website . I see that I just missed Io as well.

[kerrylewis]

8 minutes ago, David Levi said:

Thanks @kerrylewis for the info. I haven't got a smartphone but I'm sure that there must be a web page where I can find out the times of the transit of the great red spot and moons. I'll definitely look it up before I observe Jupiter next time.

You now have the info thanks to furrysocks! 

I meant to say before that one of the joys of observing the bright planets is that the moon is not really a hindrance. Even with twilight skies or bright moonlight they are still observable in detail 

 

[alanjgreen]

Nice read. Glad to inspire you to get up. It's a drag for the first 10 minutes but once you are awake! 

Here is a link to the GRS timings website (seems to be down at the moment, it was working yesterday so maybe just maintenance)

http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/software/jupiter.html

time shown on the page are the times when the spot is central,therefore the GRS is visible one hour either side of the time shown as it takes 2 hours to move from one side to the other.

Alan

[David Levi]

@kerrylewis good to know that the moon doesn't interfere too much with the bright planets. I noticed that the view of Jupiter seemed to worsen before dawn as if the sky becoming slightly lighter had an effect. On the other hand it may just have been the poor atmospheric conditions. It was quite wet on the ground what with yesterday's rain and a slight frost.

@alanjgreen getting up wasn't too bad today as I was quite excited about the prospect of viewing Jupiter. I went to bed early as well (8.30pm!) I didn't sleep all that time but probably had a good 5 hours.

[kerrylewis]

Ok David. Twilight will reduce the contrast and, of course, seeing can change at any time. But it's often good to observe the planets when everything else has disappeared or yet to appear. A neodymium filter also helps a bit in those circumstances- perhaps something to try in the future? 

[kilix]

btw, stellarium is a free software and it will show you the positions of Jovian moons and also the position of GRS. I am not sure, if it shows moons' shadow transits.

This software is not primarily for planets, but an oustanding allaround software for many astro targets, also helps with session planning, has time acceleration, shows comets, meteor showers, etc. Try it out, you'll love it.

I got kinda lost with all the different webpages, one webpage for Jupiter, one for comets, one for Messiers, one for moon phases, etc. So I use Stellarium and that's it.

 

EDIT: and I almost forgot! Nice report! Jupiter is one of my most favourite targets. There is always something going on up there.

[David Levi]

Hi @kilix. I have Stellarium and use it whenever I'm observing. As you say it's brilliant. I got the names of the moons that I could see from this program. I didn't know that Jupiter's image in Stellarium was accurate enough to show the GRS so thanks. I noticed the moon Io appearing from behind Jupiter just after dawn in Stellarium so maybe it will show the transits. I'll keep an eye out for them.

[laudropb]

Very nice report. It is always worth the early rise to view Jupiter.

[kilix]

I just checked stellarium - and indeed - it shows shadow transits. I fast forwarded a bit, and tonight (or tomorrow morning) Io begins to cast a shadow at about 2:30 my local time. I checked one of those webpages presented here, and it corresponds to the data on the webpage.

Too bad that the cloud layer is thick as soup here. I haven't seen shadow transit yet.

[niallk]

Nice report  The Jovian system is so dynamic that I never tire of observing it - so many features to see!

Keep persisting as Jupiter draws closer, and you're bound to catch a night with good seeing.  Stellarium etc as already mentioned will help schedule Great Red Spot transits, and also shadow transits of the various moons are very cool to catch - watching solar eclipses occur on another planet

[ronl]

Excellent report, my first view of Jupiter and it's moons was through my bins,

this was the moment I really needed to buy myself a scope, which I did, and

I have never looked back, just up.

Clear Sky's.

[David Levi]

Hi @ronl It was quite a shock for me to see two specks of light through my 9 x 50 finderscope which I realised were a couple of Jupiter's moons. I can imagine that viewing Jupiter through binoculars would leave you wanting more. Its been a day now since viewing the planet but the buzz hasn't gone away yet. The thrilling view through my telescope is etched vividly into my memory.

Another reason for jumping at the chance to observe Jupiter was that the weather forecast is quite bad at the moment for South Wales. Nothing but cloud for a week or more and I like to get out at least once a week for an observing session.

[popeye85]

Jupiter is without doubt my top target! Not had a chance to view it this year so to a medical condition known as 'laziness'! 

Can't wait to see it again!

[GoodOleJim]

I remember seeing Jupiter through my 4.5" Equatorial 4 or 5 years ago. Congrats on seeing the big planet for the first time!

 

I'm curious, did you use any sort of barlow or anything with your 5mm eyepiece? I have terrible luck focusing images with my 6mm eyepiece when using a barlow. 

[David Levi]

Hello @GoodOleJim I didn't use a barlow to view the planet. I have a 2x barlow that came with the telescope but since adding to my eyepiece collection I have gotten out of the habit of using it as it dims the view. My 5mm eyepiece gave me 200x magnification and although this might not be considered high for a planet I think that it was pretty much maximum magnification for the seeing on that particular night. I gather from this forum that with my f5 8" telescope there will only be rare occasions that I can push the magnification to 250x. I may purchase a 4mm eyepiece in the future that will give this higher magnification. On the other hand I could always buy a better barlow or a Tele Vue powermate in order to avoid affecting the view but then that's just another piece of kit to add to the focuser socket.

With regard to your focusing problem, a few weeks ago I unscrewed the barlow lens from the barlow eyepiece and screwed it directly onto my 8mm TV Delos eyepiece hoping to achieve a 1.5x increase in magnification for that eyepiece. However, I was unable to achieve focus. I must admit that I lacked the curiosity to try the eyepiece with the full barlow so I don't know if I would have been able to get focus with the barlow lens slightly further away from the eyepiece. Now that you have raised this problem I'll try it next time I'm observing if I remember.