Jupiter April 2

[timwetherell]

Making the most of jupiter before it descends deep into the southern sky in the coming years. This was the view in my 7" scope last night. On a few occasions I've seen a large white oval in the equatorial belts - I've christened it the Great Ghost Spot   I'd be interested to know if anyone else has seen this recently? Transit shadow was Europa I think, but being the smallest Galilean moon and Jupiter being low in the sky, I wasn't able to see Europa itself against the planet's disc on this occasion.

[Knighty2112]

5 minutes ago, timwetherell said:

Making the most of jupiter before it descends deep into the southern sky in the coming years. This was the view in my 7" scope last night. On a few occasions I've seen a large white oval in the equatorial belts - I've christened it the Great Ghost Spot   I'd be interested to know if anyone else has seen this recently? Transit shadow was Europa I think, but being the smallest Galilean moon and Jupiter being low in the sky, I wasn't able to see Europa itself against the planet's disc on this occasion.

Excellent sketch. Well done! Is it done with pastels or coloured pencils? 

[timwetherell]

Thanks  Coloured pencils, I used to sketch in graphite pencil but now quite like to use colour. I tend to make rough sketches at the eyepiece on scrap paper then compile them into a propper drawing in the warmth and light of the house afterwards

[John]

Superb Tim !

Jupiter was excellent last night. I was picking up similar detail with my 12" dob at 199x. That row of dark "wavelets" running along the N edge of the SEB reminded me of a railway viaduct last night (my view was the other way up from yours of course)

I can confirm that the shadow was Europa's. I could just see the moon itself just behind it's shadow but this was as they moved toward the jovian limb. Seeing the moon "right across" is very challenging I find but the limb darkening effect helps to see it towards the end of the transit.

 

[timwetherell]

Yes I suppose it was a bit like a railway viaduct come to think of it! A bit of extra aperture probably helps a lot with seeing Europa's disc, but next time I'll wait a bit longer and see if the limb darkening does the trick for me. I've seen other moons against the disc but probably the larger ones and when Jupiter was a lot higher in the sky.