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Cracking Jupiter tonight - 25th April 2017

Stu

By Stu
in Observing - Planetary

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Stu

Stu

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Certainly my best views this apparition, although given how scarce they have been they do not have much competition!

Having spent some time setting up the binoviewers to work at high power with barlow etc, I was greeted with the same 'smoothed out' view when I got Jupiter in the field. Nice enough, but the fine detail just isn't there for me.

Back to cyclops, and after some messing around, I arrived at the unlikely combination of x2.5 PowerMate, with a Zeiss Abbe Barlow and finally a Zeiss 25mm Ortho. This gave me a view as good as or better than anything else but with nice eye relief and a very comfortable view. Initially my floaters were bad, but once my eye adapted to the brightness they seemed to very manageable. Pulling the 25mm out from the Barlow a little way allowed me to fine tune the magnification from x148, up to  perhaps x170 or so. I did try the Nag zoom up to high powers i.e. x246, and although the image held up well, I don't think it was gaining anything.

GRS centre stage by 10.42pm and looking very lovely, quite orange I thought. Plenty of action in the NEB with two festoons swirling out of darker knots, quite like barges but I don't think they are. The first festoon was more clearly defined to me that the second, whilst a third rotated in view during the time I was looking.

I got hints of the separation between the GRS and SEB but these were limited to the periods of better seeing. Whilst quite variable, there were a few short periods where it settled and the view was quite breathtaking.

All packed in now, work tomorrow but pleased to have got out for a reasonable session and that the skies played ball.

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John

John

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My Tak is still out Stu but it's a cold one here so I'm packing up soon. Very fine views of Jupiter I agree :icon_biggrin:

Amazing how much detail these scopes can show when your eye gets tuned in !

Nice report :icon_biggrin:

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chiltonstar

chiltonstar

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I had my grab 'n go 127 Mak out - Jupiter is very splendid tonight, isn't it. A lot of detail in the bands, the odd festoon, and the white area around the GRS very obvious (x190). Seeing to the East is bizarrely bad (Epsilon Lyrae) but good SSE (Jupiter). Odd...... I've just given up as a layer of ice (!) is forming on the scope - I thought it was Spring!

Chris

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Stu

Stu

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39 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Tomorrow (Thursday) should be a nice view (if the clouds allow) of Io, shadow and the GRS passing across about midnight.

Chris

Looks like a great one, but weather not looking promising at the moment. Not seen a shadow transit this time around....

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Stu

Stu

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9 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

I had my grab 'n go 127 Mak out - Jupiter is very splendid tonight, isn't it. A lot of detail in the bands, the odd festoon, and the white area around the GRS very obvious (x190). Seeing to the East is bizarrely bad (Epsilon Lyrae) but good SSE (Jupiter). Odd...... I've just given up as a layer of ice (!) is forming on the scope - I thought it was Spring!

Chris

Interesting that the white separation was not as obvious for me as I have seen on previous occasions. I suspect it might be thinner currently?

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chiltonstar

chiltonstar

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44 minutes ago, Stu said:

Interesting that the white separation was not as obvious for me as I have seen on previous occasions. I suspect it might be thinner currently?

I always have difficulty with any white features if the seeing isn't excellent - John said the same of "white ovals" elsewhere, I believe. A week or so ago I was watching/imaging a nice "string of pearls" feature, which was appearing and disappearing as the seeing came and went - our atmosphere and the low planetary altitude really don't help!

Chris

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John

John

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Lovely image from Jake here which confirms some of the features we were observing last night. They were festoons Stu :icon_biggrin:. Also, the GRS hollow is pale rimmed but I've seen it looking more distinctive than this. Jupiter is lower in the sky than last time around so I figure that a bit more effort is required to tease out the details this year:

 

 

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timwetherell

timwetherell

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34 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

 A week or so ago I was watching/imaging a nice "string of pearls" feature, which was appearing and disappearing as the seeing came and went 

Chris

Yes indeed gentlemen, It was magnificent last night! and looked to me like a string of white "pearls" following the red spot which to my eyes was actually red for once :) This was my sketch around midnight using a 7" refractor59006fb80e1cf_jupitersketch25-4-17.jpg.0ee64857c1d96e41dacff4ff451e636a.jpg. I was dog tired but couldn't go to be without sketching it!

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Stu

Stu

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Thanks for the link John, very nice to see confirmation of the features. The festoons were clear in the better seeing, one less than the others. I did not detect the white turbulence following behind the GRS and rarely have any luck spotting white ovals!

Might try the C925 sometime soon!

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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1 hour ago, timwetherell said:

Yes indeed gentlemen, It was magnificent last night! and looked to me like a string of white "pearls" following the red spot which to my eyes was actually red for once :) This was my sketch around midnight using a 7" refractor59006fb80e1cf_jupitersketch25-4-17.jpg.0ee64857c1d96e41dacff4ff451e636a.jpg. I was dog tired but couldn't go to be without sketching it!

A truly beautiful sketch Tim. Though I was hindered by cloud forming around Jupiter last night, and consequently saw very little, the GRS has appeared intense orange to my eye of late. Paulastro using a FC100DL said he saw it as pink. Perhaps your aperture advantage is playing a part here by really bringing out the red colour in the spot. I like the detail you've recorded in the spot itself! :icon_biggrin:

Mike 

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timwetherell

timwetherell

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1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

 I like the detail you've recorded in the spot itself! :icon_biggrin:

Mike 

Thanks Mike, I was surprised to see any detail in the spot at all (don't recall ever doing so before) but there was a distinct lighter bit with a hint of a swirl in there :) 

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chiltonstar

chiltonstar

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On 4/26/2017 at 09:31, Stu said:

Looks like a great one, but weather not looking promising at the moment. Not seen a shadow transit this time around....

....how true - solid cloud here last night.

Why is it that weather forecasts predicting cloud always seem to be correct, whereas ones predicting clear skies often aren't? maybe the same law of science that says that buttered toast always lands face down...

Roll on the next good transits on 4th and 12th May!

Chris

 

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Piero

Piero

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On 2017-4-25 at 23:34, Stu said:

Back to cyclops, and after some messing around, I arrived at the unlikely combination of x2.5 PowerMate, with a Zeiss Abbe Barlow and finally a Zeiss 25mm Ortho.

 

Very interesting report. :) 

Out of curiosity, have you tried the 25mm + Abbe Barlow + VIP barlow (2x)?   

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Stu

Stu

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1 minute ago, Piero said:

 

Very interesting report. :) 

Out of curiosity, have you tried the 25mm + Abbe Barlow + VIP barlow (2x)?   

No, I haven't tried that combo but will give it a go next time out :) 

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MarsG76

MarsG76

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Excellent report... Jupiter just like Saturn is amazing during the moments of clear seeing or during those rare nights where seeing is optimal. It was 24 Feb this year that I saw the clearest Jupiter with more detail on it that I've ever seen. Also few nights ago I had great detailed views, up to 300-300X the views were stable, contrasty and detailed.

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David Levi

David Levi

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Before the clouds rolled in Jupiter was looking great again tonight at 200x magnification. I observed the transit of Io a few weeks ago and tonight before I was clouded out I saw the shadow of Europa on the planet. What was interesting for me was that Stellarium was showing that Europa was about half way across the face of Jupiter when its shadow appeared on the limb of the planet. I couldn't see Europa through the telescope, only the shadow. This oblique shadow is quite different from Io which as far as I remember was really perpendicular. I suppose it all makes sense when you consider the distances of the orbits of the moons but it's not something that occurred to me before observing the transit of Europa tonight.

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John

John

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I got the cloud a little earlier than David and Chris. Prior to that the views of Jupiter were really splendid with my 12" dobsonian :icon_biggrin:

Pity that they were rather short lived !

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