Did you view jupiter tonight?

[mike bacanin]

Hi everyone,

did you view jupiter tonight? (saturday) i would like to ask how you found the seeing?

i viewed from 10-45 till midnight, but the seeing was pretty awful limiting mags to around x150.

by midnight jupiter was so low that seeing was too bad to continue and the planet's brightness was dimmed by murkiness at low altitude.

i'm in stoke on trent, just curious which areas had better seeing.

regards

mike

[algol]

nothing here in wigan mate, but glad someone got to see it.

[hawklord_66]

Saw it from Stevenage between about 9:30 - 10:30. Can't comment on seeing conditions as it was my first light as a complete novice. I was amazed i could even find it. Can only get to x60 but think i saw 2 cloud bands and 4 moons.

Richard

[rawhead]

No better in North Norfolk.

The 8mm in the X2 barlow was the highest mag I could mange (X150)

Could not see the GRS.

A widefield X75 gave the best view for me.

Picked up the GRS in the processed webcam shots though...

[mike bacanin]

best i could get was SEB reolved into 2 components, irregularity in both NEB and SEB during odd moments. 2 other finer temperate belts and fairly prominent South polar region.

anything past x150 with 18mm ortho went mushy!

as it got lower the murk in atmoshere started to affect the image brightness.

mike

[algol]

off past viewings though i only can go up to 130x due to lack of EP's and ain't seen GRS

only 2 cloud bands and the 4 moons

[John]

I had about 30 mins on Jupiter last night with my ED102SS refractor. At 138x (4.8mm Nagler) I found the seeing OK (given the planets low altitude) and I could discern 4 cloud belts, northern polar darkening and the GRS with some darkening around the edges of the GRS "hollow" as it's called. The GRS seemed to hit the central meridian at around 21:30 hrs or thereabouts. I found the view noticably less good at 184x so the seeing was not that great.

That was about as good as it has got with the 4 inch on Jupiter this year and it was a good debut for the Vixen Portamount

John

[algol]

wow john, you managed 4 bands and the GRS with a 4 inch? that's great, any tips mate i use a 5 inch and as stated above, only seen 2 bands and no GRS.

is it one of those experience things that your eyes will get better with use at astronomy

[Sam]

We had some very good observations of Jupiter at the Salisbury Star Party. I think the seeing was pretty good - it was certainly the best I have seen it - very distinct banding and maybe even a hint of the GRS - though that may have been my imagination .

[stargazer1980]

Not your imagination at all! I was looking through bernies 16 inch OO with the 13mm Ethos and x 2 powermate at the salisbury star partyand the GRS was clearly visible to the east (through the EP) slightly above centre!

Stunning

Darren

[axolotl]

Hi

Actaually got quite a nice steady view from Cardiff through my new skyliner 200 Dob. I took a picture with the Meade LPI which, although not very good does give a fair idea of what I could see through the eyepiece.

Sadly DSOs were far less pleasing - could hardly see the Dumbell nebula which usually looks quite bright and I ended up having an earlier night than anticipated.

[algol]

nic little pic mate, like the colouring you have on it

[Astronut]

Given its lowish altitude I got some pretty good views of Jupiter and the GRS with the Ethos and 2x Powermate + Paracorr through my 12" dob at the Wiltshire bash last night. The seeing was variable but there were brief moments when it steadied. The GRS wasn't red at all and I first spotted it on the SE limb. The outline was clearly visible. The dark banding of the belts was clearly visible (more so than than the GRS).

In the space of an hour (give or take), the spot had rotated to close to the planet's NS centreline.

Bernie took some single exposure eyepiece projection shots of it through his setup and mine but the spot isn't visible on the photos. For single exposure shots though they're pretty damn good.

Never seen the GRS before so I can tick it off the list now

[John]

wow john, you managed 4 bands and the GRS with a 4 inch? that's great, any tips mate i use a 5 inch and as stated above, only seen 2 bands and no GRS.

is it one of those experience things that your eyes will get better with use at astronomy

The saying "the more you look, the more you see" does hold good with planetary viewing (and other astro viewing I guess).

This was my 1st sighting of the GRS this year and it was far from red - rather paler than the SEB that it nestles in in fact. I've just checked the meridian transit time for the GRS last night (on the Sky & Telescope web site) and it came up with 9:43 pm our time which seems to correspond more or less with my observations which is encouraging

My only tips would be keep observing these objects as often as you can - I'm convinced that you can train your eyes over time to pick out more details. Also observing from a seated position (and hence relaxed) helps - they say it's like having an extra inch of aperture.

John

[johnlees45]

I viewed Jupiter tonight (Wed. 8th. Oct. '08) and for the first time distinctly saw two bands across it, as well as the four moons (two very close together).

[mike bacanin]

In between trying to sort out my hotmail log in last night i managed to view jupiter. The Great red spot was beautiful, a little to the left of central meridian at about 7-30pm. (using a diagonal with right way up, but reversed image).what struck me was how pale it looked within the SEB.

the GRS hollow was very distinct. quite noticeable at x108 and very distinct at x168.

seeing was boiling a bit as usual but a lovely sight regardless.

Mike

[Doc]

Mike I was viewing Jupiter the same time as you were here in Nottingham.

In my 16" I could see both cloud bands and 4 moons with 21mm ep at x87. Occasionally I might see banding around the polar regions. Could not detect the GRS (Still to see it).

Tried to go higher in mag but that made seeing worse.

All the time I could see boiling and simmering around the object.

[russ]

I viewed Jupiter last night with the ETX 90 at around 7.20pm. I amazed at the stability of the atmosphere and even more amazed by what the little 90mm could show. The GRS was not a problem.

Russ

[Tiny]

With Jupiter in sight for only a half hour before the next tree swallowed it we had an 80mm and 90mm out Given our skies are dark the seeing down there was not great and neither scope could improve on 60x for surface details - which were just the two bands and a bit of darkening at top and bottom. Even this amount of seeing was variable from second to second. After that it clouded up.

In contrast to Jupiter the moon - just a little higher gave tic sharp images until it was swallowed by another tree. Given this I wonder if their was thin cloud down near the horizon and the moon interacted with it.

[mike bacanin]

Interesting comments guys! Russ, i agree about the ETX, when i had the ETX RA version some years ago, cassini was very easy and the equatorial band and polar hoods on saturn, great little scope!

Mike

[themos]

Yesterday, Wednesday, around 9pm, the seeing in Oxford was the best I have ever seen it. Diffraction rings (Airy pattern) indicated about a 7 (peak, dropping to 5 occasionally) on the Pickering scale. It didn't last, though. I looked at the Airy pattern at 470x with the 12" f/5 Newt and enjoyed 125x views of Jupiter with the Nagler.

[Lady Isabella]

Last night/evening gave me a wonderful view of Jupiter, with 6 dark belts

and the Great Red spot visible in 4 inch refractor at 135x.

The North Polar region now seems to be showing up well.

[astro_dt]

I observed Jupiter through my WO66 down at the South coast. I could see two clod belts and the four Galilean moons neatly arranged in two pairs to the West.

The seeing was fair to poor, even looking out acoss the channel was hazy and the detail came and went so the seeing was very variable.

Cheers

Danny