Jupiter sketch 26th 09 09

[Craig H]

Last night I watched Jupiter from the moment it appeared until it got tangled up in the branches of a nearby tree ( by then the colours were washed out being so low anyway) so I unfortunately missed out on the great red spot ( which I've still yet to definately see, although I look at Jupiter every chance I get!)..and the transit...Doh !.

However at times I got the bests views of Jupiter I think I've had so far..(only started this year mind you).....for five minutes here and there the planet just sat perfectly still and the features stood out really well.......so I did a sketch......

As always, comments and criticism welcomed......thanks for looking.

regards craig.

[trevboyd]

Looks good, Craig. I envy anyone who can sketch/draw!

Trev

[dweller25]

That is a very good sketch, the GRS is actually pink and very hard to see at the moment. Keep looking though as there are loads of moon transits at the moment.

[Paul G. Abel]

That's very good indeed. The layout is good, and both belts appear to be in the right positions. What was the magnification? I usually find the poles to be greyish yellow and the SEB to be more brown the red. Did you pick up any signs of the turbulence which is present in the NEB? It's certainly very active at the moment. In average to better than average seeing (i.e. ANTII-III) I find I get a real impression of 'swirling' and 'churning' in the NEB.

[Craig H]

Thanks guys.

Trev, Im am in fact rubbish at art but find that sketching is improving my observing skills...the more I sketch the comfier Its becoming.

Paul, the eyepiece used was my 7mm giving me a mag of about x170 (meant to include that in my sketch! doh!), and I'd actually tried higher mags but found that the details were washing out so I backed off a little.

I usually find the poles to be almost identicall in colour but on this occassion the upper pole in my sketch was deffo a little orangey brown compared with a salmony pink lower pole.However I'm not sure if this was down to atmosphere.

I did suspect that where I've drawn two sort of bulges in the darker band that these two had almost wave like crests following behind them,... but I couldn't swear to this so left it out of my sketch....I'll certainly keep observing and sketching

thanks again guys...

[Andrew]

Nice work Craig - I have never tried sketching planets. I'm a little put off by how low Jupiter is in the sky and the long wait for a few seconds of good seeing!