Never give up....

[Patbloke]

So it all went horribly wrong three times...

Alignment!! how can you mess up alignment three times? Well, when you are in a hurry and have an pre planned observing list that must have been prepared for targets around at 4 in the morning!! Objects currently below the horizon... Argh I must learn more star names to make alignment easier!!

Anyway, I want to let you know that despite some frustrations my advice is you should never give up on a clear night!

Today for the first time in ages I was inspired by 'Nick of the Swad' to plan an evenings observing... I created a list of targets and for once decided to try my rifle finder on my Starwave 102 (relevance later)

When finally aligned I picked M13 as my first target... Lovely! surprisingly detailed I thought at high mag... Then it all went wrong again, I put in an NGC target and the scope pionted below the horizon.. so fed up was I that I decided to spend some time on Jupiter instead of my target list (Nick had recommended a moons of Jupiter app so I thought I would check it out)

Ok next door have a large Conifer and Jupiter was to the left of it so I used my red dot finder and hit the target perfectly... It appears the scope/mount was still tracking correctly so no rush plenty of time to observe. I read earlier today that a blue filter would be good to view Jupiter, so I set it into a BST8mm and concentrated on the nice crisp banded planet and moons.

Note!! this is why you should never give up! I just witnessed a transit of Ganymede across the edge of the Jupiter!! At first I thought it was just a trick of my eye but I could clearly see the moon and a shadow on the bottom/top edge. I checked the moons of Jupiter app and sure enough this was indeed what I was watching. Unbelievable, I got so excited out there I can tell you... Almost as excited as I was when I first saw the moons in a skywatcher 114p years ago. 

I realise the transits must happen a lot but that's the first real clear one I've witnessed, amazing... Just had to write it down to share.

How wonderful was that? The blue filter, the red dot finder... The messed up alignments all lead to that event. 

Thanks to Nick for the tip, and thanks to my incompetence, otherwise I suspect I would be still out there with my target list... Not sat here basking in the glory of what for me was a mind blowingly satisfying moment...

 

 

[MarsG76]

2 hours ago, Patbloke said:

you should never give up on a clear night!

Absolutely, If we gave up so easy every time something went wrong, than nothing would ever be achieved...

[MarsG76]

2 hours ago, Patbloke said:

Almost as excited as I was when I first saw the moons

Almost??? 

 

[MarsG76]

2 hours ago, Patbloke said:

moons of Jupiter app

I had no idea of this app, is it available on iPhone? I can't see it on the AppStore, Jupiter Moon tracker is the only one that pops up regarding moons.....

Generally I use GasGiants... it is a great app, shows moon positions and whether the GRS is visible.

 

[cotterless45]

Great report ! Transits always provide great views, especially as we are near opposition on the 9th. 

The Jupiters Moons app is brilliant , Nick.

[Patbloke]

It seems there are quite a few astro apps out there... Here are just a few of mine ?