Jupiter - better than expected

[John]

I hope your S horizon is better than mine is tonight Stu !

I've got the Tak on Jupiter again but I'm viewing through scudding clouds and just getting short glimpses. Seeing does not look so good as last night. I can see Io's shadow and the main Eq belts but thats about it

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, John said:

I hope your S horizon is better than mine is tonight Stu !

I've got the Tak on Jupiter again but I'm viewing through scudding clouds and just getting short glimpses. Seeing does not look so good as last night. I can see Io's shadow and the main Eq belts but thats about it

I suspect mine is a little better but not that much. I'm struggling with setup here, trying to get similar magnification whilst getting the blooming things into focus. I don't think I will get anything meaningful in terms of comparison tonight. I was struggling to get enough mag on the Tak, but saw Io's shadow in both scopes; smaller and crisper in the Tak but that was purely magnification at play. A bit frustrating after last night.

[John]

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

..... A bit frustrating after last night.

Isn't it just ?!!

I managed to see Io emerge from the disk and a few more glimpses of it's shadow before more clouds piled in.

 

[geoflewis]

40 minutes ago, Stu said:

A bit frustrating after last night.

The seeing here in Norfolk is terrible compared with last night. Views at the eyepiece were poor, but once I put the camera in it was obvious that it's going to be a very short session....😞

[Ibbo!]

Just had a drop of 2 of rain that is not supposed to happen.

 

[John]

Clear as a bell here again now but the wind is back and the seeing not as good as last night by any means.

Forecast shows 98% cloud from 1:00 am here.

[Stu]

Packed up now, typically Jupiter has reappeared but was never going to be much cop. Need to experiment with the setups so I can do a meaningful comparison. The mount was a bit wobbly with both scopes on at high power so will find other options. It is fine at medium powers but not with the Mewlon at high power.

[JamesF]

Unexpectedly clear here at the moment too, but I'm somewhat unprepared.  The forecast has been all over the place today.  Mind you, the glow from my arms and face would probably cause issues.  Looks like I caught the Sun rather more than I realised earlier in the day.  (Fan belt failed on the tractor and wore through the bottom hose of the radiator in the process, necessitating the removal of lots of bits to fit a very awkward new belt.  It's amazing how you can lose track of time when you're outside applying large amounts of sweariness to engineering that was clearly designed to be assembled by children.  And that was before I discovered that whilst it's a Japanese-made tractor, for some reason the bolts holding the radiator mountings, two of which had gone missing, are 1/4" UNC.)

Perhaps I'm really not in the right place for observing tonight anyhow...

James

[geoflewis]

I'm also packing up, clear sky but rubbish seeing......

[John]

It's much clearer here now and the seeing seems steadier on Jupiter. It won't last though, according to the forecast .....

[Kev M]

Completely overcast here, cant even see Jupiter, not a star in the sky.

 

 

[steveex2003]

This evening, for the last hour seeing has been so much better. With a little 80 @ 111x I have viewed the GSR, and in moments of very still I was able to observe the uneven edges and graduations (forgive the lack of terminology) to the N and SEB's.
This has been my best view of Jupiter in what is now my second season.

[AdeKing]

Just finished off a great session on Jupiter. 

Took the time to set up the EQ5 with my ED100 and binoviewers. 

Views were good with 24mm Orthos, soft with 12.5mm Orthos but just about perfect with a pair of BCO 18mm.

GRS very clear and to my eyes a brick red colour. 

Lots of detail visible in the NEB. 

I watched the GRS from just before transit until it was disappearing round the limb. 

I could resolve the moons as clear discs and could pick out Ganymede as the largest, which I've not been able to do before. 

I'm guessing that my views were the result of a combination of good seeing and binoviewing but certainly my best views this season. 

This is the first time I've used binoviewers on a planet in earnest but I'm almost as shocked by the detail I could see on Jupiter as I was when I first used the BVs on the moon. 

Wanted to stay out for Saturn but have to work tomorrow 😔

[geoflewis]

Well the seeing certainly got better tonight, though not so good earlier in the evening when I started a sequence of capture runs on Jupiter with the GRS in transit. After a sequence of 3 R-G-B runs, none of which looked particularly good, I decided to swap the camera for the 40mm eyepiece, leaving the x2 PM and ADC in train for approx x200 mag. It  turned out to be a very good decision, as following comments made by others the last few days I played around with a couple of filters, a 25% ND and a general LP filter, the later of which really sharpened up the view. The beautifully red GRS was still visible and clearly seen above a distinctly sandy coloured EZ, with subtle lighter bands stretching along the EZ. A broad light band stretched away from the GRS along the SEB. The darker (brownish) jagged NEB was well displayed with a couple of lighter festoons reaching from it into the EZ. Europa was inbound towards Jupiter as the GRS was exiting the disc on the same side, the other 3 moons were also clearly seen on the opposite side, but all 4 moons showed some scintillation, hinting that seeing was still not stable.

After enjoying some time with Jupiter I headed over to Saturn, for my first views this year. Cassini was just visible and it probably required higher magnification, but with a crystal clear sky overhead I opted for a hop through some old favourite DSO.

I removed the x2 PM and ADC, using just my ES68/40 eyepiece and a diagonal. I started with the low down targets, M16, M17, M8, M20, but then headed higher for views of M13, M92, M27, M57. Adding an OIII filter into the mix I finished the session with my first views this year of the Veil Nebula complex (very pleasing) and the somewhat more difficult Crescent Nebula (NGC6888).

It wasn’t the session I planned when I headed out to the observatory, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow....

Sorry for getting off topic after my Jupiter report....

Cheers, Geof

[MKHACHFE]

Well, i observed the big J with my XT 8 almost every night last week and was astounded at how big it was through my £15 cheap 10mm lens. Maybe because this is the first time in my life i have a good telescope and live somewhere darker than Central London, so i have nothing to compare it too...but i was buzzing from what i saw...easily defined bands and colour and I'm 99% sure i could see the red spot too. It was jaw dropping...cannot wait for the end of the month when Saturn take its place in the sky at that time of the day...

 

That being said, my wife looked in the eyepiece and saw nothing but a bright disc....

 

Cheers

Edited July 8, 2019 by MKHACHFE
Added more detail