Fingers crossed

[Daz69]

I'm hoping to bag a glimpse of Jupiter tonight. It will be the first time I've ever seen it apart from in photographs, if I'm lucky.

[Knighty2112]

Hope all goes well and the seeing is good for you. The Great Red Spot (GRS) is just starting to come round, so if you persevere a little with the viewing you may see it too. Good luck!  

Pic below shows GRS just coming into view.

[John]

Hope it stays clear for you. I've just been fogged out here !

At 10:57 pm the Great Red Spot should be more or less on the central meridian of the planet:

 

[orion25]

Sending all positive vibes your way to see Jupiter. It's amazing even when not at its best. I'm looking forward to the April 7 opposition when it will really put on a show!

Here is a video I shot of Jupiter & Io a few years ago:

Best wishes,

Reggie

 

BTW, I tried taking shots with my GoPro through my scope but the image was entirely too small and unusable. It was worth a try!

[Floater]

Be lucky, Daz. ??

[laudropb]

Hope all goes well Daz. Clouded out here.

[Nathan UK]

How did you get on daz? It's nice and visible from Liverpool right now , I had a good look the other night. Going to try and view the ISS tonight me with a bit of luck.

hope you managed to take a good look mate,

Nathan

[Daz69]

Well guys, all of your vibes and best wishes came true, so thank you.

OMG I cannot believe what I saw. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I was using my 130 as my dob base for my 200 isn't finished yet, but OMG.

I was using my 9mm with an LPF as the moon was coming up, and even used my cover thingy on the front of the tube (very technical me). I tried the barlow but that made the view worse. I saw the 4 Galilean moons, with the closest 2 swapping places almost, which was awesome to see. The 4th moon (I know it has 67) visible is amazingly some way out, but it still fitted withing the EP.  I viewed Jupiter it for nearly 2 hours. 

I even managed to get a rubbish photo on my iPhone. Not sure if you'll see 2 of the moons (maybe 3 but very grainy, sorry!) to the top right of the Jupiter. Not bad for something 420 odd million miles away! 

and I even got one of the pesky moon that spoilt everything   It's had a little touch-up in Photobucket.

Overall, a very pleasant evening's viewing    

 

[Daz69]

I could see the two bands either side of the equator but couldn't make out the GRS unfortunately. There was no detail to the red bands but definitely able to see that they were there. I'm so hoping that my 200p will show some extra detail, but I know that I am limited mainly to the quality of my EP's (Omni Plossl's) however they are far superior to the supplied ones that's for sure.

I also feel that my focusing was rubbish as every time I tried adjusting it slightly, the wobble created was terrible, so I was adjusting a little, then letting it settle down before adjusting again, and only by a nano titch every time, but the wobble is very annoying. Again, I'm hoping the sturdier dob base will yield better results. 

[Nathan UK]

12 minutes ago, Daz69 said:

Well guys, all of your vibes and best wishes came true, so thank you.

OMG I cannot believe what I saw. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I was using my 130 as my dob base for my 200 isn't finished yet, but OMG.

I was using my 9mm with an LPF as the moon was coming up, and even used my cover thingy on the front of the tube (very technical me). I tried the barlow but that made the view worse. I saw the 4 Galilean moons, with the closest 2 swapping places almost, which was awesome to see. The 4th moon (I know it has 67) visible is amazingly some way out, but it still fitted withing the EP.  I viewed Jupiter it for nearly 2 hours. 

I even managed to get a rubbish photo on my iPhone. Not sure if you'll see 2 of the moons (maybe 3 but very grainy, sorry!) to the top right of the photo. 

and I even got one of the pesky moon that spoilt everything   It's had a little touch-up in Photobucket.

Overall, a very pleasant evening's viewing    

 

Great stuff Dazz glad you got good results mate! Nice report also,

jupiters a beauty isn't she!

i use a SWE 130p and found my best views of Jupiter to be using my 4mm UWA

i took a few shots of the moon and Jupiter also....

little tip for pics mate,

get a iPhone adapter/holder from eBay for £5 and get night cap pro for iPhone to mess with settings...

im new to having a play with pics also but found the above helped a lot even tho my pics aren't the best but I'm happy with them ?

Will show you below mate

really enjoyed your write up

nathan

[Daz69]

Cheers Nathan, I will check that out tomorrow. How does the iPhone gadget attach to the scope?

[Nathan UK]

3 minutes ago, Daz69 said:

Cheers Nathan, I will check that out tomorrow. How does the iPhone gadget attach to the scope?

It has a sticky glue that sticks to your phone and also things you can tighten to hold the phone in place, the glue is the type you can wipe with a wet cloth once it's stickiness goes to bring back its grip it then sits on your EP. Will take a pick to show you mate

[Nathan UK]

Eyar mate these pics should explain ? £5 well spent mate

[Daz69]

18 hours ago, Nathan UK said:

Eyar mate these pics should explain ? £5 well spent mate

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I will have to look at that, cheers

[Nathan UK]

No problem daz

[Paz]

Well done with getting your first view of Jupiter! You are right about focusing being critical but it can also be a pain - especially if things wobble while you are focusing or if you don;t have a dual-speed focuser for fine tuning. For the moon and planets and fuzzies I will generally find a reasonable star nearby if possible and set my focus using that and then go back to the target - I find I usually get a better focus that way.

 

 

[niallk]

Great stuff Daz69  - keep going back again and again to Jupiter: some nights I find it a blurry fuzz ball, but other nights when seeing is good, and the scope is well cooled and collimated, the fine details are just spectacular.

[Daz69]

13 hours ago, niallk said:

Great stuff Daz69  - keep going back again and again to Jupiter: some nights I find it a blurry fuzz ball, but other nights when seeing is good, and the scope is well cooled and collimated, the fine details are just spectacular.

I had the scope out a good 2 hours before using it, set it up before dinner, and then saw that Jupiter wouldn't be high enough until at least 21:00hrs, so actually nearer 3 hours! I'm also happy with the collimation (bit of a perfectionist getting things working spot on) but I hear what you're saying about seeing conditions being different every time, but I think probably my way biggest problem was viewing Jupiter almost 2 feet above my neighbours house   ha ha!. 

[niallk]

54 minutes ago, Daz69 said:

I had the scope out a good 2 hours before using it, set it up before dinner, and then saw that Jupiter wouldn't be high enough until at least 21:00hrs, so actually nearer 3 hours! I'm also happy with the collimation (bit of a perfectionist getting things working spot on) but I hear what you're saying about seeing conditions being different every time, but I think probably my way biggest problem was viewing Jupiter almost 2 feet above my neighbours house   ha ha!. 

Yeah - I was viewing Jupiter similarly just above the gable end of my neighbour's house last year, and from time to time I could literally see a river of turbulence due to heat plumes sweep across the fov like  looking through a waterfall Quite a shocking eye opener to see so vividly!!

Roll on better altitude for viewing planets!

[Moonshane]

Try sketching. I find it allows me to concentrate on what I am seeing. Here's mine from last night. The planet was small but with patience you can pick out detail.