Early Evening Planets

[John]

I felt that I had neglected Jupiter and Saturn lately with Mars being so showy so I popped out my Takahashi 100mm refractor at around 4:30 this afternoon to have a look at them while there was plenty of light still in the sky.

It was nice to find the observing conditions quite steady. Jupiter's four Galilean moons were attractively arranged and while the Great Red Spot was not on show, nice belt and zone details were. There seem to be two substantial grey/blue festoons on the south edge of the North Equatorial Belt. The South Equatorial Belt and the North and South Temperate Belts were seen together with the darker "hoods" of the South and North Polar Regions. 130-150x seemed to be the optimum magnification for Jupiter this evening.

 

 

 

Then onto Saturn. More magnification could be employed on this planet and I found around 200-220x working very nicely. The ring system was very sharply defined with the Cassini Division separating the A and B rings. The shadow of the C ring could be seen arching around the planets disk south of the equatorial zone. The darker North Equatorial Belt was clear and there were suggestions of the North Temperate Belt as well. As with Jupiter, Saturn's north polar region was notably darker than the rest of the planets disk. The shadow of the northern hemisphere of the planet was sharply defined sooty blackness where it fell onto the ring system. As the sky gradually darkened, Saturn's brightest moon Titan glimmered into view nearby.

 

 

It was great to observe these two gas giants again and good to see them in relatively steady conditions. A good prelude to Neptune, Mars and Uranus later this evening, as long as it stays clear 

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by John

[Saganite]

Seeing not so good here John.

Jupiter not so good as it is  low over the bungalow behind me, but good enough to enjoy, as is Saturn, though not as steady as I had hoped for.  Mars is pretty good already but waiting for it get higher, and then of course the Moon. This is the first real chance to try this set up and so far I am happy with it.

 

[RobertI]

Great minds think alike John! I was worried that Jupiter and Saturn were disappearing so I had a quick session about 6pm and also saw the grey barge on Jupiter. Both planets were very low over nearby rooftops but I was amazed at what could be seen on Jupiter considering how much the disc was shimmering. A benefit of the modest 100mm aperture I think. 

[kerrylewis]

Also 100mm here with the trusty Tak. Mars is really good tonight with lovely steady detail showing Syrtis Major, Hellas and the tiny south polar cap. Occasionally the seeing really steadied and gave a real sense of looking at another rocky world.

I have also been surprised how good Jupiter and Saturn have been given their still low altitude. I've watched a couple of shadow transits on Jupiter as it dodged the TV aerials and telegraph pole opposite. It makes me smile to see the gas giants millions of miles away being eclipsed by a telegraph pole!

Even with the variable weather it's been a great period for us planet lovers with Venus also blazing away in the mornings and the distant Uranus and Neptune visible as well. All we need now is Mercury in the morning next week and we have a full set.

 

[John]

Mars is looking pretty good again as Kerry says

I also had a look at Neptune then Uranus.

What I found interesting about the views of these distant worlds at high power (300x) is that Neptune resembles a tiny, pale blue ball, a little like a tiny marble which seems to have a distinct 3 dimensional look despite it's tiny apparent diameter, whereas Uranus is slightly larger but looks rather flat and disk-like. Uranus colour tonight I would say was a pale greenish-grey.

Why Neptune seems to have more "depth" to it I'm not sure but I have noticed this before. Probably something to do with the apparent diameters of these planets although both are very small targets - Neptune = 2.33 arc seconds, Uranus = 3.75 arc seconds and also maybe that Uranus is somewhat brighter.

I won't go on about Mars in this thread - it's getting plenty of attention in other threads

 

[Stu]

Lovely stuff @John, and great info in your first post. These two are sadly a bit out of reach for me now from my garden, but glad they are still putting on a good show.