Jupiter, 3 June 09, 4am

[ashenlight]

Last night I tentatively set my alarm for 4am, hoping that the milky sky would be clearing up by dawn. I actually woke up at 3:55am (much to my annoyance) so looked out the window at Jupiter blazing down on the Southeastern horizon for a little while. Waddled down the stairs at bang on 4, let the cat out, opened the blinds, managed to get the scope (and myself) onto the lawn in one piece and lined up. I thought I'd take the opportunity to view the gas giant through my binoculars, and through the 10x50s it was a definite orange/yellow disk. I could just make out a faint star near by too - maybe this was a Moon. Here's my views with different eyepieces through my Explorer 130PM:

25mm EP: Used this to locate Jupiter. It was an obvious orange/yellow disk with 4 Moons cutting through the middle going from 8o'clock to 2 o'clock in a really pleasing straight line! Two were fairly close together, made for a pretty pairing.

10mm EP: larger disk, slight hint at banding, overall a nicer view.

10mm EP and 2x barlow: the view through this was breathtaking. I don't think I will ever forget it. The planet really looked spherical, instead of a disk, but there was definite flattening at the top and bottom. I could clearly see the two main belts, a lovely rusty orange colour, and although the area inbetween was more or less cream/yellow in colour, I could see variations in the colour when the seeing got better.

I tried putting on the 3x barlow, but I kept losing Jupiter. Maybe I was a bit tired...so I just enjoyed the view with the 5mm EP the barlow gives me.

The seeing was pretty awful. That milky haze I mentioned before was still around in the morning and even though I've never viewed Jupiter through a scope before, I could just tell it was altering the view - in the right conditions it could be even better. Jupiter was really very bright too - so much so that when the seeing got particularly bad and it seemed to 'boil' I could barely make out any surface details because the brightness was so overwhelming.

Anyone else had any good sightings of Jupiter? I'm thinking about getting up a little earlier (I might not even go to bed) - say about 2am - to see if the darker sky makes any difference with surface contrast.

I'm starting to get aperture fever....

Amanda

[Andrew*]

Super report, Amanda, that's a really great observation of Jupiter and it sounds like you had a great early mornign session. Well done on getting up so early too - I'm definitely not a morning-person

Andrew

[ashenlight]

Me either really Andrew, I had to drag myself out from under the duvet. It was worth it though. Really thinking about doing it again whilst the decent weather lasts!

[mattlane]

Still not had the chance to look at Jupiter with my scope yet (same as yours). Some friends were over at the weekend and threatened to stay up to view it, all were a goner by 1.30, most annoying. But its moving now and should rise earlier with each day (from what i hear) and be hanging around just after midnight by the end of the month. Jupiter was the first planet i ever saw at the end of last summer with a little 60mm refractor, i am brimming with excitement to see it properly with the new scope!

I bought the eyepiece set from Optical Vision (Optical Vision Ltd ::Telescopes, Binoculars, Spotting Scopes, Microscopes by OVL) which you can get for £69 if you show your receipt for the explorer. I'm very pleased with it, and managed to get saturn looking perfect in the 2mm EP (which many people have said to be useless/too powerful with my/our scope) it looked perfect, i could see the ring crisp and the shadows, and a hint of banding. Oh and it was massive, if Jupiter is as big as saturn is (including its rings) then that is literally massive planet stuff in my eye.

How's the galaxy hunt going? I've managed to find a good few clusters, and seen m81 & m82 (just off ursa major/plough) in the same field of view. Although m101 is proving to be very elusive.

[ashenlight]

The friends never realise how hardcore an astronomer must be in my experience, same as yours I was wondering about the 2mm EP, thanks for that input - you read my mind. I think it would depend alot on the seeing though?

Galaxy is going well - I've only seen two: M81 and M82. Beautiful pairing, fit nice and snug using the 25mm eyepiece. What mag did you use on yours? Did you manage to use a barlow at all? I didn't - the higher mag seemed to dim the galaxies too much. I've also seen m13 - managed to spot it at least 4 times now, it is beautiful.

Testing out some LP filters as soon as the weather allows (forecast to be a little cloudy tonight) so I will let you know how I get on with them - will be testing the Skywatcher and the Baader Moon and Skyglow, both available on the FLO website.

M101 is elusive for me too. Just can't get it in the FOV. Let me know if you manage it

Amanda

[mattlane]

With the 2mm and saturn i've always had a little trouble seeing it clearly. Then i tried something. Put it in the bottom right hand corner, so it drift across your field of view, and push the button on the motor handset to stop the motor, everything sharpens up a LOT, i think with the high powers the vibrations from the motor cause the blurring. Then you just rewind the sky again with the other buttons.

M13 held up right down to my 5mm, really massive, and realy bright, in fact i could se it without averted vision in the 5mm, whereas i had to with other EPs, mind you it did fill the view entirely, so perhaps i was using averted vision without realising it.

Apologies for the clouds all my fault it was my birthday yesterday and got a new finderscope (a 9x50 with right angle skywatcher one) then the clouds came. Everytime i get something to use with the scope the clouds come.

[brianb]

Everytime i get something to use with the scope the clouds come.

Right, consider your wallet stolen & your bank account frozen.

4am, eh? It's too light up here by then .... been up till 3am 6 nights in a row, though; six consecutive clear nights is a record for here! Had a quick peek at Jupiter just before packing up last night but, as expected at low altitude, the seeing was dreadful, main bands just about visible. Be better in three or four weeks.

[Talitha]

Great report Amanda, glad you had such a memorable session!

The seeing is always messy in the airmass (below 30 degrees altitude.. it's what we call the 'garbage zone') and sadly, Jupiter will remain in the airmass this year. I don't understand the orbital mechanics behind it, but i know for a fact that it's not always this low to the horizon, so in the future your view will be better.

From what i understand, Jupiter's oblate shape is caused by it's rapid 10 hour rotation. It doesn't actually flatten the poles, it makes the equator bulge outwards... like an ice-skater's skirt when she does that dizzying spin.

[ashenlight]

Thank you for that explanation Carol, you have such a knack for making it so easy to understand

I'vebeen doing a bit of reading about Jupiter and have come across the fast-rotation = equator-bulge, it's all clear now:D

Can't wait till he's higher in the future.