Jupiter at perigee 2023

[josefk]

I had a week off the internet last week so this is a belated posting of an observation of Jupiter at perigee last week (01.11.23). I  wasn't sure i was going to post it all because i wasn't 100% confident in my own observation and sketch till yesterday when i saw some online images of Jupiter taken at more or less the same time where if i squinted (at the images) i could see why i saw what i saw at the scope so became confident i hadn't simply seen a kind of optical illusion ascribable to the poor (bouncy) seeing.

What i observed were the most extraordinarily rough edged and dark edged NEB/SEB i've ever seen (blue grey swirls) and a totally "crooked" NEB with a bulge on its south-western edge and an arch on the north-western side. I had about an hour with the observation before it hazed over (high cloud) which is a massive shame because the GRS was just off the eastern limb and i would have loved to see what it would have looked like in these circumstances.

The image at the scope was very desaturated in colour terms - very little (no) ruddiness in the main belts.

Tidy version: 

 

...at the scope version:

[IB20]

Great sketches. This is the first year since I started in 2020 that I’ve managed to see bluey/grey bruising in the NEB! Wonder if it’s helped by altitude? Or perhaps previous years at opposition the clouds/jet stream haven’t co-operated? 

[josefk]

i don't really have an answer to that @IB20 except possibly it's the conjunction of those variables being favourable plus the storms themselves being there of course and then maybe just a little bit of lucky timing that we're out at that moment. This time of year i have the habit to take a quick look at Jupiter and Saturn most sessions - normally at the beginning and end of a session - even if i really want to look at something else for most of the other time, my thinking is it's always worth a quick check "just in case". 

I'm happy i've picked up this new visual memory and log for "my collection" though i'd of course now i'd like to repeat it with a bigger scope and in more favourable seeing conditions 🙂