First look at Saturn & Jupiter 16/06/21

[PeterStudz]

 

Well, for my 9 yr old daughter. I have seen Saturn and Jupiter as a teenage boy, last time somewhere around 1979 - 1981. But that was with a small refractor and for Jupiter the most I got was a yellowish disc + moons and for Saturn the rings - from memory they were almost edge on.

Doing some simple calculations I had thought that both these planets would be behind the trees at the bottom of my garden and or too low for the whole year and to see them we’d need to go somewhere else with a clear view of the horizon. I had a first look early Sunday morning and to my surprise both were above the tree line. My calculations were wrong! So, got out the old Skywatcher Skyliner 200p, which I’m in the process of renovating and still isn’t quite sorted/finished, to take a look. Got a surprising amount of detail on both. Finally going to bed at 4:30am.

Ever since I pointed out Jupiter and Saturn in the sky at the end of last year Alice  wanted to see them in a telescope. But we’ve only had a telescope since Christmas and by then it was too late. She wasn’t impressed when I told her she’d need to wait about 6-7 months in order to see them again. And when she woke up on Sunday morning and I’d told her what  I’d seen she had a minor “meltdown”. Although meltdowns like that are the positive ones. Apparently I should have got her out of bed.

This morning was the first opportunity to try again. Although clear outside  suggested that it would be pushing things with a forecast in Southampton of 57% cloud cover between 2 & 4am and a suggestion of fog. But Clear Outside was wrong and apart from some high clouds around 2am the sky was completely clear. And the fog/sea mist didn’t appear until 5am-ish.

For Jupiter we managed to see the moons (one very close to the edge of the disc), banding and to our pleasant surprise the GRS which at 4am was just off central meridian. In fact the best seeing was around 4am and got crisp views up to 240x magnification. For Saturn (again up to 240x magnification) a few moons, some subtle banding and the cassini division. 

Over the moon if a bit tired. Looking forward to doing this again when Saturn and Jupiter are out at a more civilised hour. And one-zees are the latest astronomy fashion. Although there was far too much annoying dew at least for once it wasn’t freezing cold. And I’ve got to get that base finished!

[Z3JohnLB]

Hi, I'm Southampton too, seems you had better luck than me although I did go to the forest early one morning about 6 weeks ago for good clear views of Jupiter and Saturn before the sun came up.  Hoping to get imaging this year too.

John

200mm Dobsonian

[PeterStudz]

Hi @Z3JohnLB, it certainly hasn’t been all good. Most of June has been terrible cloud wise. It’s got to have been the month with the most cloudy nights this year so far. I had one night last week where the forecast suggested a break in the clouds between mid-night and dawn. Including setting up I was in and out of bed four times before giving up as the sun came up. The forecast was wrong as there was total cloud cover the entire time.

I’m interested in going to a darker site(s) in the New Forest at some point, especially when the nights get darker. If you know of any good spots or would be interested in someone coming along please let me know. If not then no worries.

I also know the chef and some of the people who own one of the big hotels in the New Forest. It has a big lawn although views of the horizon might be limited because of trees. But the advantage here is that you could park, walk a very short distance, setup and be/feel perfectly safe. But would need to look into it. Eg would the lights of the hotel be an issue.

[Z3JohnLB]

Hi, would be happy to do that, probably more August as the nights are getting darker. I have been to a car park near Ocknell, Fritham way. 

As you say, would have to investigate the hotel option for horizon views as Jupiter and Saturn often not that high.

Camping holiday for the next week now.

John

 

[russ]

That sounds a great session indeed. Just a shame they rise at silly o'clock at the moment. But worth it when you get a good view. A few more weeks and they will rise sufficiently by midnight. 

Some great spots in the New Forest. A group of us from SGL used to meet at Turf Hill on the North side of the Forest. Not too bad a drive from Southampton. Come off the M27 at J1 (Cadnam) and head out on the Fordingbridge road. Didn't take me long at all from Southampton.

[PeterStudz]

Thanks for that @russ   I’ll certainly look into it. @Z3JohnLB   I was thinking more of DSO as that’s what I struggle with in Southampton.  Certainly try something when the nights get darker.

My daughter told her friends at school about seeing Jupiter and Saturn. And last weekend she had her best friend over for a sleepover, in part so that she could look through our telescope. On Sunday morning, at some silly hour, we did have success at viewing Jupiter and Saturn. Although the seeing wasn’t as good as before (got to around 170X before things got fuzzy) we could see the ganymede transit on Jupiter. I had to explain the transit using a football & golf ball. It impressed me more than the girls who were slightly disappointed that on this night there was no GRS. Apparently Jupiter isn’t Jupiter without the GRS. My daughter was clearly more interested than her friend but I did get a “wow… look at the rings” from her friend for Saturn which was nice. You could make out the  Cassini division so for a first view it was impressive. I helped the night/morning flow along by making hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows. Kids do need some other entertainment as well as looking at the sky. The other advantage with planets is that you don’t need your eyes dark adapted so they can dip in and out of the house. All in all a successful night.

Had another look at the gas giants on Saturday morning 17/07/21 as I realised that there was a chance to see the GRS and that would make up (at least for my daughter) for not seeing it the week before. Again, seeing started off being poor so initially I didn’t wake up my daughter. But as the morning went on things improved. I found it fascinating watching the GRS appear at the edge of the disk and slowly move across the planet. At about 3:40am the GRS was towards meridian and looking relatively crisp so I went and got my daughter out of bed. At times you could easily see structure to the Spot. And for a brief period of 5-10 mins we managed to get the magnification up to 240x. Extra entertainment was provided by a fox who came within 10 feet of us before bolting away and an extra loud dawn chorus.

For me observational astronomy is about the whole experience, not just what you see through the eyepiece.