Jupiter " Fracing views "

[Timebandit]

 

Well we had a clear night at last in my neck of the woods. So the stars were out in force , but so was the planets. With the clear sky's and no rain , just a chill in the air then it was time to get the refractor out and place it on the simple but effective AZ4

The SW equinox 120ed  was was balanced on the AZ and the TV diagonal put into place. As just some planetary on the cards then had decided to go minimalist with a few Orthos. The Badder Genuine Ortho 5, 6 , 7 mm where eyepieces of choice, and put in the 4mm RG volcano top Meade also. The equipment in place then it was time to see if Jupiter would play ball and give up some of its details 

Jupiter was around mid sky location in the Southern direction, this big planet out shinning the stars in the sky which makes it such an easy target to locate. Jupiter was located and I started off with the 7mm BGO , nice clear view with a magnificent of around x130 . The belts of Jupiter were easy to see and picking out some cloud detail is always nice. The GRS was there and the atmosphere was reasonable allowing clear recognition, as on an un driven mount it is surprising how many times the view can change(,in and out of clarity from great to satisfactory) as the planet goes across the eyepiece fov as the result of the earth rotation and atmosphere conditions vary. The view in the 7mm was most of the time very nice  a clear crisp view of this massive gas giant. Being a bit greedy I put the 4mm to see how much the atmosphere conditions was allowing. The 4mm at around x250 was just to much for the viewing tonight, the scale was there , but details to blurry for my particular viewing taste. The 5mm BGO was placed in to see if that would be the sweet spot at around x182. So much better in scale, but still not quite the crisp clear image that my eyes prefer. The 6mm BGO was put into the diagonal and at around 150 was certainly the sweet spot tonight. The belt clarity was at its best allowing the eyes to pick out belt details and colour change. The GRS was easy to distinguish from the rest of the cloud detail. It is times like this you realise as a planetary observer why you need so many eyepieces at the higher magnification ratio and ratios so close together. A    0.5 mm or 1mm difference in focal ratio at the higher magnification range can make all the difference in clarity and sharpness of view and image scale. A sweet spot needs experimenting with to get that ideal eyepiece for that particular seeing conditions for that particular time accordingly to fit in with atmospheric conditions. Overall a great hour of planetary observing with a refractor, and IMO refractors really do come into their own with planetary and lunar over the reflector. 

[John]

Very good report

I certainly found that 150x was the "sweet spot" last night on Jupiter with my 100mm Tak. Lovely views as the GRS crossed the disk and Europa edged nearer and nearer before slipping behind the giant planet.

You also set out the case well for having choices of magnification at higher powers so that the particular target / conditions "sweet spot" can be found and adjusted as needed. I seem to have a rather packed eyepiece set at the short focal lengths for this reason (so I tell my other half)

 

[carastro]

LOl, when I saw the title I thought you were asking for views on Fracking.  

Glad you had a good evening.

Carole 

[Stu]

I think we all had similar fun out there last night. I was at around x150 too and it looked great. The disk still looked sharp at higher power, but some of the more subtle details were lost.

Nice report  

[johnfosteruk]

Great report, I had a quick view at 125x and it was a sweet view, with some belt details apparent as well.