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Jupiter and Mars in approaching dawn


Stu

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I had a good session this morning for a few hours. I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so popped the little 76mm Tak out and took a 24mm as a finder, Leica and Nag Zooms to give me a good range up to x190.

Jupiter was still pretty high up when I started observing, and I was surprised how bright Mars was sitting above the Hyades. Orion was also showing well above the horizon, a sign of what is to come this winter.

Jupiter was first up, and to start with it looked fairly bland, but as is often the case, time at the eyepiece drew out some nice detail. I knew I had missed the Europa shadow transit, but the moon itself was still over the disk, and after a little while I saw it appear as a bright disk in the limb darkened area, then gradually emerge as a pimple, then finally separate completely. Always fascinating to watch the mechanics of the solar system at work.

At the same time this was happening, GRS was making its way towards the centre of the disk. At first it was hard to spot, just a hint of a dark marking, but over time it became much clearer. I could see the separation from the SEB, which was much less distinct than the NEB. Following on behind the SEB was much closer to the NEB and there also seemed to be a darker patch in it, though I couldn’t see what it was. The NEB showed some subtle texture to it and was quite dark. I could see the Northern polar region but none of the smaller divisions, nor could I see any festoons or barges.

At first I thought I couldn’t see any colour in the GRS, but then I looked away at a bright light and then back at Jupiter and noted that it showed up as a subtle but clear brick orange colour. This is well worth trying, particularly with smaller scopes as it stimulates your cones and allows you to see more colour.

Next up Mars. It was way up high, and despite the small size, showed a clear phase and dark markings in the lower half. It looked surprisingly red too! I thought I could occasionally see brightening at the poles, smaller in the north and more widespread but fainter in the South, but I wouldn’t claim any more than than.

I then had a little break to look at M42 which was fairly undramatic against the brightening sky, but the Trap was nice and stable. Sigma Orionis was lovely as ever, although the fourth component was tough to get, had to vary the mag with the zoom to pick it up. Rigel was the last non planetary target, and the secondary showed up well.

Back to Jupiter, I then just decided to watch it through into daybreak. I lost the last of the moons in the scope about twenty mins after sunrise, and could still just see Jupiter with the naked eye five mins later when I packed up. I dropped the mag as the sky brightened and the contrast faded. By the time I finished GRS had pretty much disappeared leaving just the two faded equatorial belts.

A good session, nice to get back into some planetary observation get after quite a break, even if only with a small scope.

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18 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

But M42 in August??!  That just sounds wrong.

It does, doesn’t it, but there is was, bold as brass! Well perhaps not but certainly Orion looked great, and M42 is definitely still there! 😉

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Nice report, Stu. I was also out this morning, also with 76mm but in long achro format, a bit earlier than you, just as the GRS was beginning to come into view. I too found the view a bit indistinct for a while but the seeing was a little wobblier than it has been recently. It got better after a little while. Mars was still behind the neighbour's tree.

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