Jupiter, festoons in the EZ & knots in the NEB, 4th October '24

[josefk]

This is a tidy (if tired) version of the last of my scruffy thumbnails of Jupiter last night ~01:00 BST (maybe 01:15). It was my first time this apparition with the larger refractor and though the night was pretty poor overall (both poor seeing and bad transparency) it was revealing how in clear steady moments the difference  between 130mm of good glass and 85mm of good glass (re. detail) was quite apparent (if beyond my sketching skills to capture it).

The southern edge of the NEB was very busy with two large dark festoon enclosed bays in the EZ near the Meridian and to the West of the meridian. The most eastern of these bays was quite bright versus its neighbour while the rest of the Equatorial Zone was quite scruffy (dirty, i.e. not bright). There was a dark knot on the southern part of the NEB trailing theses festoon bays and small dark spots following this. I was watching it track West towards the Meridian, its movement (progress west) was quite visually obvious actually over an hour or so of watching.

The South Tropical Zone was unusually bright i thought with the lower part of the SEB unusually dark and the Southern Tropical belt unusually thick and dark. Possibly there was also a bright oval storm in the west of the Southern Polar Region and stronger than usual flickers of the minor STB and SSTB belts in the southern hemisphere..

Overall quite enjoyable despite the soupy damp conditions.

 

Possibly i prefer my very scratchy thumbnails - i wish i could see better at night - i may need stronger reading glasses...

 

I'm not sure if i'll follow through on the idea, but i may start preparing graph paper with the NEB/EZ/SEB belts lightly sketched in prior to the observation so i can concentrate better on details in them while the proportions and placement of the bigger picture stays correct. I'm feeling a bit inspired by the book "The Planet Jupiter" by Bertrand M. Peek, he recommends a Filar Micrometer for "useful" observations of features rather than smudgy impressions 🙂 

[SwiMatt]

@josefk you regularly inspire me! These awesome Jupiter sketches make me wanna test myself... aweseome, awesome work!

[Froeng]

Amazing! Well done. Love all the sketches!

[josefk]

1 hour ago, SwiMatt said:

@josefk you regularly inspire me! These awesome Jupiter sketches make me wanna test myself... aweseome, awesome work!

Jupiter is endlessly rewarding @SwiMatt - it holds me back from munching down DSO lists because once i start to observe it in an evening i get a bit stuck 🙂 

[SwiMatt]

22 minutes ago, josefk said:

Jupiter is endlessly rewarding @SwiMatt - it holds me back from munching down DSO lists because once i start to observe it in an evening i get a bit stuck 🙂 

My main problem with it is that I never had a session where I could tease apart much detail in a satisfactory way.. but with experience and confidence now I hope to reverse the tendency.

[CraigT82]

Cracking sketches! 

[josefk]

thanks @CraigT82 - i appreciate that 👍

 

[dweller25]

Hello @josefk, another sketcher here 🙂

Well done for staying up and sharing your great drawings 👍

Jupiter and Mars will be great over the next few months….

Will share my sketches soon…..

[mikeDnight]

Great sketches! I love the field sketches!!