JUPITER!!!

[Hayduke27]

I got myself up this morning at 03:00 and managed to drag myself out to my viewing spot for another go-round.  This time I brought the lady along, as she was hoping to do a little photography.  We were set up and stargazing by 04:00 under a dark sky with pretty good viewing conditions.

I started the night with M1, but still being a little groggy and my eyes not having adjusted yet I couldn't make out much detail, just the grey smudge.  After a few minutes I decided to swing over to M42 and affix the OIII filter.  I took in this spectacular nebula and found the "fish's mouth, and slewed the scope around to try and trace the nebulosity as far away from the main bright area as I could.  

Having warmed up my star-eyes, I decided to swing up to Orion's belt.  All this talk from the UK section about seeing the Horsey had me determined that I was going to put on my OIII filter, swing the scope over, and bag this object early in my astronomy career.  No problem, right?  Well, I am here to report that I could not even detect the faintest hint of any nebulosity around Alnitak, let alone look for the telltale notch of the Horsey.  Feeling quite humbled, I moved along to the next object...

NGC 1023 in Perseus.  A beautiful little galaxy.  I have been taken by galaxies lately, and upon my first light of this one I was impressed.  I next moved the scope all of the way around to the eastern sky to try for a first light on a couple of little galaxies I'd been meaning to have a go at for a while: NGC 4038, the Antennae Galaxies.  Perhaps it was the pre-dawn light easing its way into the sky, but I was unable to detect anything here, and had to add it to my list of missed objects.

Because my telescope was already facing east, I slewed up into the Virgo cluster and hopped around from galaxy to galaxy, spotting roughly 9 or so of the galaxies.  At one point I managed to get 4 in my 30mm EP all at once, and was quite dazzled at the sight.  Nothing like multiple objects in the EP!!  I moved along to Leo for some more galaxy hunting.  I started with M96 and hopped around from there, spotting another half dozen or so galaxies.  The bounty of objects all in the same sector of the sky soothed my sore ego after the Horse and Antennae failures.

By now the sky was just beginning to get light, and I decided it was time for some planet hunting.  I began with Mars, which provided a nice defined little orange disk.  I let Jupiter climb above the horizon a little before I moved the scope to it.  When I finally did, HOLY MOLY!  I have seen Jupiter once before in my telescope, before I had upgraded my EP's.  This morning was a totally different experience, one that I wasn't entirely sure was possible for my scope.  I not only could clearly make out a nice large disk that was Jupiter, but also 4 moons!  The atmosphere was not super transparent with the planet so low in the sky, but as I observed for a while I was able to make out 2 nice big red bands on the planet when the less turbulent patches of air allowed.  As the morning went on and the gas giant climbed higher into the sky, the view only became more clear, and soon I could very clearly make out those red bands running around the planet.  I was stunned and elated!  This sighting definitely ranks right up there with my first view of Saturn.  I couldn't pull my eyes from the EP.  I finished the morning observing Jupiter until the definition was too lost with daylight to justify staying out any longer.  What an end to the morning session!  I have yet to see Jupiter or Saturn high in the sky where the seeing is a little better, but what I saw this morning really left me excited and thrilled.  What a cool experience!  I want more Jupiter! I really want to see that Great Red Spot with my own eyes!

After all of this excitement I retired home to some hot chocolate, and got all of my frosty scope equipment moved inside to defrost and dry out.  As I just read on this very forum yesterday, ice on the scope is a sign of a good night!  Clear skies everyone!

[Hayduke27]

After I finished typing this up I received a couple more pics to go along with it from my wonderful lady.

[David Levi]

Nice report and great to see a photo. It looks like a fantastic observing location.

[Astro Imp]

WOW that was a great read, you certainly managed to see some great objects 

Well done and thanks for keeping us all entertained.

[Stu]

Great report, and I agree, it looks like a fabulous place to observe from!

By the way, my understanding is that the Horsey is enhanced by Hb filters or UHC (which includes the Hb line). An OIII filter cuts out the Hb line so that would explain why you couldn't see anything.

Next time try either unfiltered or with a UHC if you have one.

[Hayduke27]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Great report, and I agree, it looks like a fabulous place to observe from!

By the way, my understanding is that the Horsey is enhanced by Hb filters or UHC (which includes the Hb line). An OIII filter cuts out the Hb line so that would explain why you couldn't see anything.

Next time try either unfiltered or with a UHC if you have one.

I do have a UHC, but I just didn't pull it out this morning.  Next time I attempt this I'll make sure to give that one a try!

[Littleguy80]

Great report. Seeing Jupiter and it’s moons for the first time was the moment that I really got hooked on Astronomy. I was only using the basic eyepieces that came with my scope. Didn’t even see the bands that you saw but was absolutely awestruck. I think it was seeing the moons too that really got me. Well beyond my expectations of what I’d be able to see.