great seeing last night

[Piero]

Last night, after coming back from an evening out with some friends, the sky was surprisingly steady. At 1am the mighty bright Jupiter was well placed in the sky, and my refractor could not wait to get out of his case. In truth, the seeing wasn't simply steady, but very steady! Jupiter revealed plenty of details from the very beginning with my zoom + barlow at about 150-200x. Two main festoons were distinctly visible on the north equatorial belt. The GRS on the south equatorial belt was also well depicted with a white border (the Great Red Spot Hollow) separating it from the belt. To my eye, the GRS appeared light brown with some red shades inside. Between the SEB and the south south temperate belt, the south temperate belt was also intriguing, showing like a line with a few oblique irregularities. Of course, the north and south polar regions were also nicely visible. All in all, a stunning view of this giant planet. 

The observation continued with Lyra and Cygnus above 70 degrees above the horizon. Needless to say, the 20mm Lunt magnificently showed vibrant colours of stars all around. My interest wasn't to spend time on specific targets, but rather to navigate all around among those beauties. The double-double and M57 were also particularly interesting. For those objects, and M39, 60x was also used. In the double-double one pair appeared elongated, whereas the other one was just separated by a tiny lane. Later on, I moved to Ophiuchus, catching M10, M12, M14, NGC6633 (Capitan Hook Cluster), and IC4756 (Graff's Cluster). 

Saturn was just emerging from the trees, but still low above the horizon. Nevertheless, at 180x the Cassini division was fully visible on the rings and the equatorial belt was also sufficiently pronounced. 

At 3.40 am the chirping of birds reminded me that it was time to pack.  

Tomorrow morning, flight at 6.20 am for a week off to Italy. Weather permitting, the dobson will see some light! 

[cotterless45]

Lovely report , some amazing detail to Jupiter. Have a good one , Nick

[Stu]

Great report Piero, glad you caught some excellent seeing at such a good time for Jupiter! I haven’t had a good look at GRS this time around, must get lucky sometime soon!

[Piero]

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Great report Piero, glad you caught some excellent seeing at such a good time for Jupiter! I haven’t had a good look at GRS this time around, must get lucky sometime soon!

I was also surprised how good it was. On Saturday I was observing Venus on sunset and twilight and the seeing was not as good. The phase was still district at above ~130x, but I wasn't able to spot the faint horizontal "V" on the clouds even when the single polarising filter was used.

[25585]

Very detailed viewing Piero. Amazed at how much you saw on Jupiter! 

 

[Scooot]

Nice read Piero. The seeing was indeed very good, I was out with my 16” and Jupiter looked so crisp I was viewing it at x318 with a barlowed 13mm at one point which I don’t think I’ve even bothered trying before. I attempted a couple of phone snaps through the eyepiece below (without Barlow). The view through the eyepiece was far superior of course but the pic below does indicate how good the seeing was.

 

 

 

[wookie1965]

I have viewed Jupiter a few times over the last few weeks and have been very disappointed. 

I know it's low in sky and where I view from its right above apartments which makes the viewing terrible. 

I am so glad at least someone is getting great views thanks for sharing very inspirational. 

 

[Eastman]

Great report Piero, got some good seeing on Jupiter there.

Nice to see those summer Messiers this early.