Take time with Jupiter !

[cotterless45]

Really dark and spectacular at 11, stayed like that for an hour , then got mysteriously lighter ! Reckon it was moisture picking up and bouncing light around. Waiting for events on Jupiter , I took another look at some favourites in Lyra. The double double just looked photographic, with clear diffraction disc sizes and wonderful differences in magnitude. Probably the best and lost stable view I've had of epsilon Lyrae. Aladfar and Sheliak giving spectacular views. The companion to Aladfar is probably the faintest star in the field, nice to tease out. Sheliak is a good multiple and a wide view is quite packed.

Jupiter.

Ganymede transit showed the white pea of the moon and the black shadow. Not much could be defined on Jupiter's disc, transparency was very transient. Don't give up ! I just locked the focus , relaxed and let the view arrive. Go for a brew. Very transient , from clarity to frustration of blur ! The GRS was dark in its pit with a fine belt ahead of it. The main belts nicely ragged.

Spent the time trying eyepieces, settled on from x120-x200. A Moon filter took the brightness away , nothing except the seeing and transparency will give you better "enhanced"  views. A bit later everything cleared, giving memorable views, two nights from opposition.

A really enjoyable time , just relax and these views will come to you, under clear skies ! Nick.

[Beulah]

Nice one.

A bit reassuring about only being able to make out the NEB and SEB and not much else - it was frustrating, especially at the end of a very, very busy day!  I was really struggling with Jupiter last night due to it only coming over the mountain at 11pm - and thought the residual heat was not making a very stable view! Was able to catch Ganymede, though!

[Stu]

Not dissimilar here Sam. I could only view up until about 11.30 and it was just above the roof tops, also dodging a tree! Not so much detail although not the worst I’ve seen. The shadow and bright disc of Ganymede were very clear though, nice.

[Stu]

Meant to say, lovely report again Nick, wish I could have stayed up later for the seeing to stabilise, but Jupiter would have been behind another house by then  

[cotterless45]

Ta Stu, took about two hours flitting around to get that sketch . Probably the most challenging of observations , determined to get some detail, especially to the GRS and the wide band preceding it.

Luckily it came between the roofs and the many times blasted oak tree !

Nick.

[chiltonstar]

Similar conditions here - Ganymede and the shadow were very clear, but other details inc. the GRS less so and took teasing out. Stunning the way G was just above and to the side of the shadow, although I did wonder if the SkySafari simulation was slightly in error - it looked to me as though G itself was slightly further towards the edge than SS showed (maybe an apparent effect). Interestingly, against the contrast of the Jupiter disk, G looked white to me rather than its usual slightly darker hue.

What a Jupiter season though!

Chris

 

[cotterless45]

This sort of info should stir the bones of even the most tired of observers ! Just don't expect it to be easy . Doing a rough drawing helps relax and train the eye to see rather than look , so does a little patience !

[mdstuart]

I had a peak at Jupiter after my galaxy session. The red spot was very evident as was a moon below and right next to the planet but I missed the transit

[mdstuart]

Looks like I was too late by 1am..

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, mdstuart said:

Looks like I was too late by 1am..

Yes, the shadow transit finished at 11.52pm

26 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Interestingly, against the contrast of the Jupiter disk, G looked white to me rather than its usual slightly darker hue.

Same here Chris, lovely white disk.

[Red Dwarfer]

3 minutes ago, mdstuart said:

The red spot was very evident as was a moon below and right next to the planet but I missed the transit

Same here ... was looking at doubles in the Mak ( funnily enough Sheliak included , same as OP ) then Ganymede was just beyond the rim when I looked at Jupiter ... GRS and dark oval in the NEB both clear though ( both a first for the Mak ) ...

PS How distinct is the central dust lane in the Cigar galaxy in your 16" ? 

[Alan White]

Sounds similar to my evening Nick, that transit was very clear and a pleasure to observe.

The GRS was an added bonus as I had not looked up to see if it was visible.

Like you say transparency came and went, I got some mist too, which made things difficult.

[Knighty2112]

Nice report Nick. I was out last night mailnly viewing and taking some of my first images of Jupiter for the first time last night. Couldn’t take any images until around 12:30am as my Windows laptop didn’t finish a mammoth Windows 10 update until then, but it worked out OK as the seeing got better around that time. I did visually see the transit of Ganymede OK with my C8 SCT, but just missed it by the time I could take any images. So far my best image is as below (which is the third one I’ve processed so far). You can just make out Ganymede above Jupiter at the 1 o’clock position, and Io well off to the right.   

 

[David Levi]

Great sketches again. Last night gave my best views of Jupiter this year. I saw the transit of Ganymede (moon and shadow) and the GRS. The views were really steady once the planet got to its meridian and it took 200x magnification without a problem. I saw some fine detail on the equatorial and the southern belts. Very steady seeing.