First telescopic peek at the gas giants

[wulfrun]

Lately the weather here has been solid cloud, at night anyway, for weeks and I've almost forgotten what "stars" look like! Last night, however, looked as if it was heading to be at least part-clear so I decided to take the binoculars out about half-ten, still twilight. I think it's really nice to just sit out and watch as stars appear.

After about an hour I realised it was actually heading to almost no cloud, if a little hazy, so I thought it worth getting the Heritage 114P set up. Yes, it was a little hazy but the views weren't too bad and after being clouded out for so long I was determined to make the most. I spent quite some time looking all around Cygnus and as most of you will know, time just evaporates when at the eyepiece!

Before I realise, it's around 2am (I'm retired so I don't care) but I thought OK, this will do and thought about packing away. Then, lo and behold, I notice a very bright "star" rising over the rooftops in the SE. Gosh, that's bright, what can it be? A quick look in the binoculars and the penny dropped, er, Jupiter! In my mind it's for later in the year but I'd forgotten the late hour. Unfortunately, it's in an awkward place to get the scope on it so I hastily moved it, without re-aligning and just used the manual buttons to keep tracking. Only 3 moons (no Ganymede according to Stellarium, later) but with the 5mm in - pushing it for the conditions - I got glimpses of possible banding (might have be wishful thinking though).

Having spent a while gawping, another thought popped into my head...if I can see Jupiter, Saturn should also be around. Quick scan with binoculars and doh, yes there it is, not jumping out like Jupiter. In a worse position too, so another hasty relocation and manual tracking but my first telescopic view! OK, all I can see is a tiny, featureless ball but there's a distinct gap between planet and rings. Definite "Wow" box ticked. Maybe saw Titan too, the dot was in the right place when I checked Stellarium's view later. Given the poor clarity and low ish altitude, coupled with non-ideal choice of scope, I'll settle for what I can see. I also tried the TMB 6mm I got recently and fancied I could get a bit more sharpness. Slightly lower mag or more suitable eyepiece? Not sure but I spent some time staring and tracking. Watching the slight wobble of the view as our atmosphere wavered was in itself quite appealing, rather than detracting.

So now I can happily say that actually it IS worth ending up crawling in to bed at 2.45am when you've clocked the gas giants!

Edited June 30, 2021 by wulfrun
SE not SW rising!

[Jim Smith]

Thanks for the report. I will look out for predicted clear skies in the early hours.

[Tiny Clanger]

Yep, I had a similar unexpected bonus view at 3 am on the 22nd of June (which happened to be exactly one year since I bought my heritage dob and had my first view of Jupiter's * rings when I got it home  🙂  Happy Birthday , little dob ! )

I'd been DSO spotting, but as I packed away because the sky was getting light, there was a bright 'star' . Jupiter was pretty low , and just over a neighbour's roof, not great seeing, I tried an 8mm BST which was a bit doubtful and a 12mm BST , which worked better ,  only 63x but decent views. Unfortunately Saturn was coyly hiding behind a ruddy great tree 😞

Certainly whetted my appetite for views to come of the gas giants  !

Heather

* Ha ha, you knew I meant Saturn, I knew I meant Saturn, my fingers typed Jupiter. I've given them a good telling off.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Tiny Clanger
stupidity

[Stu1smartcookie]

Well done for 

A; Staying up 

B: Reaping the reward of viewing the GG's 

I am really envious of people being able to stay out well into the night , as i am up quite early in the morning and cant really afford to stay out any later than around midnight  

Loved reading your report though . I can't wait for when the planets are visible at around 10pm from my garden . Isn't Astronomy exciting ?  Always something to see and to look forward to . 

[Soligor Rob]

Well done Wulfrun, here in Chester it has just been one cloudy sky after another, all my fault since fitting some tube rings to my 8" Dob about 2 weeks ago.

I am really chomping at the bit to get out and use the scope on the tripod and recently purchased Skytee 2 from Flo, fingers crossed.

[wulfrun]

Just to update this...

Another clear one last night, with a bit of swiftly-moving cloud and a slight and variable haze. I had the 150PL out this time with every intention of "a late one" if warranted. Jupiter rose above the houses in my SE not too much after midnight but Saturn was, frustratingly, skimming along the roofs and not viewable in the scope for some time. Several times clouds and heavier haze looked like they would spoil things but they didn't quite manage to get both the giants at once!

I got up to x150 (16mm/82-degree plus 2x focal extender) but more than that didn't improve the view. In fact the ES 20/68 looked about the same in place of the 16mm (x120) and I stayed with that until the giants were higher. I spotted only 3 of the Galileans, Io seemed to be hiding (I didn't pre-check where they'd be) but I did notice I could tell Ganymede's greater size. That was a little unexpected. I could see a lot of the belts and zones on Jupiter's equator and spent a long time absorbed by them, teasing out hints that they aren't just smooth smudges, when the seeing allowed.

After a time I kept seeing a spot near Jupiter's equator, a dark one (not GRS). Due to the not-quite-steady seeing I wasn't at all sure I wasn't imagining it but I convinced myself it was there in steadier moments and it was heading towards the left edge (newt view!). Shadow of Io? Looks like I'll have to stay up late to be sure! Time for a quick prayer to the clear-skies gods?

I moved on to Saturn when it cleared house roofs and managed to get a half-decent view, I found Titan and at times I got hints of the Cassini division. Not having seen Saturn this up-close before, I found it a little disorientating at times. There was a lack of contrast between the planet and rings, which kept making me switch from seeing it looking from "above" or "below" the ring-plane. Almost disturbing how that plays tricks in your head!

I switched between Saturn and Jupiter depending on the cloud and haze but managed quite some time on each. Somewhere around 2am I was switching from Saturn to Jupiter and though "oh, wow, Jupiter's got a bright pimple on his side!" so I continued watching to confirm my suspicions. After a while, the pimple detached and the poor, tortured moon Io came back into view. My earlier observation of the shadow was confirmed. It's amazing to watch this play out in front of your very eyes in real-time, with the other 3 Galileans having changed positions quite noticeably through the session too.

You can probably guess that I went to bed tired but very happy indeed!

[dweller25]

On 30/06/2021 at 13:52, Tiny Clanger said:

Yep, I had a similar unexpected bonus view at 3 am on the 22nd of June (which happened to be exactly one year since I bought my heritage dob and had my first view of Jupiter's rings when I got it home  🙂  Happy Birthday , little dob ! )

I'd been DSO spotting, but as I packed away because the sky was getting light, there was a bright 'star' . Jupiter was pretty low , and just over a neighbour's roof, not great seeing, I tried an 8mm BST which was a bit doubtful and a 12mm BST , which worked better ,  only 63x but decent views. Unfortunately Saturn was coyly hiding behind a ruddy great tree 😞

Certainly whetted my appetite for views to come of the gas giants  !

Heather

Well done for seeing Jupiter’s rings, I have tried and tried but they just elude me 🙂

[wulfrun]

1 hour ago, dweller25 said:

Well done for seeing Jupiter’s rings, I have tried and tried but they just elude me 🙂

Seems not to be an eyesight problem on your part eh? 😉

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Callisto was maybe 8 Jupiter widths off to your left.  Back off the mag a bit tonight you should see it.

The shadow wasn't a transit but get out tonight at the same time and you will catch a Ganymede shadow transit. 👍

 

Edited July 17, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet