Great Red Spot not on view but Festoons are !

[John]

Currently observing Jupiter with my 130mm triplet refractor. GRS is on the other side but there are some lovely festoons along the S edge of the N equatorial belt forming a line of loops running across the equatorial zone of the planet. I've counted 4 of them so far.

A couple of background stars making a nice arrangement with the 4 moons as well.

Nice views again of the giant of the solar system

[Knighty2112]

Nice to know John. Sadly, clouded out here, not even a smidgen of sky available under the gloomy cloud cover! 

[Paz]

I was hoping for another go at Jupiter this evening but heavy clouds have killed the idea!

[Redscouse]

1 hour ago, John said:

A couple of background stars making a nice arrangement with the 4 moons as well.

I feel silly now. I thought I'd seen five moons. One appeared out of orbit, kind of above the other four, must have been a star I was looking at. ??

[Stu]

6 hours ago, Redscouse said:

I feel silly now. I thought I'd seen five moons. One appeared out of orbit, kind of above the other four, must have been a star I was looking at. ??

No need to feel silly, it’s a very common mistake to make. Looks like it was the one highlighted in this image?

It’s funny how festoons are mainly visible when GRS is not. Perhaps it disturbs the Equatorial Band too much and stops them forming nearby?

[David Levi]

Yes, the southern edge of the NEB was quite complicated last night. The extra field stars certainly spiced up the view. The conditions seemed reasonably steady but my maximum magnification to achieve satisfactory views was 'only' 166x.

[John]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

..It’s funny how festoons are mainly visible when GRS is not. Perhaps it disturbs the Equatorial Band too much and stops them forming nearby?

Interesting Stu. I'll have to read up a bit on the atmospheric systems on Jupiter. I suspect they are very complex !

[Stu]

30 minutes ago, John said:

Interesting Stu. I'll have to read up a bit on the atmospheric systems on Jupiter. I suspect they are very complex !

Having just seen an image showing GRS and plenty of festoons, I think my theory must rank somewhere below that of the flat earthers for any credibility  

[Redscouse]

12 hours ago, Stu said:

Looks like it was the one highlighted in this image?

Now, am I being silly again or, when you posted this did you forget something Stu? (the link or an image?) ?

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, Redscouse said:

Now, am I being silly again or, when you posted this did you forget something Stu? (the link or an image?) ?

Hmm, looks like it’s my turn to feel silly  

Here you go  

[rockystar]

That looks about what I was looking at too. I thought it might have been GRS, but couldn't convince myself, and didn't know where it was. So must have been a large festoon maybe. 

Maybe some noctilucent clouds too?

[John]

Here are some great images of Jupiter taken last night by other astronomers around the world which show the festoon activity that I mention above rather well - in a lot more detail than I could see but it's helpful to see what my humble observations revealed ,much more subtly, to my eye

http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/kk18/j180603z.htm

[Ags]

That's what I saw! I was looking at around 23.00 CET and could clearly see a dark barge on the southern edge of the NEB. I could also see a third clear belt to the South of the SEB, my 102 Mak often struggles to pick that detail up. The air was very stable but views were washed out - the sky still had a bit of blue left, and there was some high altitude haze.

[Redscouse]

21 hours ago, Stu said:

Hmm, looks like it’s my turn to feel silly  

Here you go  

??? 

Yes Stu, that is the star I was looking at. (Had me confused at first as the star was higher than Jupiter. Then I remembered what I was looking at was upside down! Darn those reflectors! ? )

[Stu]

46 minutes ago, Redscouse said:

??? 

Yes Stu, that is the star I was looking at. (Had me confused at first as the star was higher than Jupiter. Then I remembered what I was looking at was upside down! Darn those reflectors! ? )

Like this?  

[Redscouse]

yep, that's pretty much the view I had. I showed my son who commented how orange the 'moon' was. 

Forgive my ignorance; What are these festoons thingy-me-bobs?
I Googled it and was presented with a list of treatments for an eye ailment! ?

[Stu]

49 minutes ago, Redscouse said:

yep, that's pretty much the view I had. I showed my son who commented how orange the 'moon' was. 

Forgive my ignorance; What are these festoons thingy-me-bobs?
I Googled it and was presented with a list of treatments for an eye ailment! ?

Have a look at the image in this thread. I’ve highlighted in red the area where the festoons are. They are bluish grey features which arc down, generally from the NEB (this image in upside down, presumably Newt view)

 

[John]

Heres a photo that illustrates various Jovian features to look out for. In addition to the labelled ones, the white features to the left of the red spot in this picture are sometimes called vortexes and the part of the South Equatorial Belt that the red spot seems to nestle into is often called the red spot hollow. This is an illustrative picture - the features that are actually on show at a particular time will vary as will their contrast and relative sizes and also depending on what face of Jupiter is on show during the observation.

[John]

Out again on the same target tonight. Slightly frustrating because what can be a helpful (for Jupiter observing) thin cloud layer has thickened over the past hour into a moderately unhelpful cloud layer. Detail pops through momentarily and then fades and dims for a while. It's like Jupiter is peeking out from behind lace curtains now and then to taunt me, then hiding it's face when it notices me staring at it !

There are obviously some nice festoons still on show, but only in small doses !

[John]

Things have improved since my last post. Not bad seeing now. As well as the festoons mentioned there is an associated dark blob or lump on the S side of the NEB. It's about in the centre of the disk a the time of typing.

Quite nice

[John]

It was getting better and better out there but I've called it a day anyway - got to get some kip !

Pretty good seeing conditions over the past 40 minutes. Turned out much better than I'd feared earlier.

Finger crossed for similar tomorrow night when the GRS and Europa are in transit

[John]

"Called it a day" ???

Well, that was until Saturn put in an appearance. I could not resist getting the Tak 100 out again and later the TV Ranger 70. Very nice to view Saturn again, in both scopes