First Jupiter in 25 years.

[Earl]

Its a long time since I looked at Jupiter through my Telementor.

As we have Clearish skies, there is some whispy stuff floating about, I decided to get the EQ5 out and put my 8" SCT on, which is my first Scope Observing session in months.

All a bit of the cuff tonight so no Alignment other than a rough "thats North" were on the Grab and Go.

LOL Grab and go I wish!

I was also accompanied by rustling and snorting (and the odd apple dropping of the trees) I have head this before so tonight Im going to settle what's making this noise!

So back to Jupiter.

OUCH its bright ! my filters are stashed im so unprepared !

Starting with my 32mm I can see 3 moons... ones hiding! and the NEB, which also hints a little colour.

The EQ5 is not motorised so I center up and grab my 6.7.

This is fuzzy Im struggling to get a crisp image, and its still overpoweringly Bright but I can see a black dot, which answers my missing moon as one is in transit.

Back to the 32mm for a nice image, and just observe for a while, before I go off looking for M31, which is a nice big fuzzy

I did try to find Uranus but no joy, bring on the goto I have never been good at star hopping !

Well even though its 25 years since I last look at Jupiter, its still an amazing sight, and I cant wait to get the webcam on this.

Oh and.

Cold and Damp !!

LOVE IT !

Oh and as for the noise.

we have a pair of Hedgehogs !!!

[russ]

I knew you were going to say Hedgehogs before i read the punchline......they are noisy blighters

25 years...wow that's some time with out a view of Jupiter. It's a fantastic sight at the moment, sounds like you enjoyed the view.

I would have thought your 11mm TV Plossl would be the ideal eyepiece for the job with a mag of 181x?

[Earl]

Yeah, i wanted to get the televue out but couldn't find it......

I left it in another box i found out this morning, so Im armed now LOL

[russ]

Ah yes, i've done that a few times. Usually because i've taken something out for cleaning and then completely forgotten. Jupiter will be knockout with the 11mm TV.

[Talitha]

25 years? Whew, that's a long time, glad you finally got another look.

[yeti monster]

Don't leave it another 25 years!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I find any EP shorter than 7mm is often too short for my SCT. Something between 8 and 10mm is ideal for planets (or between 10 and 14 in bad seeing).

The moment you mentioned snorting I guessed they were hedgehogs (got a couple in our garden as well)

[Parus major]

What would be good doing is getting out some non-fishy catfood to bulk up your hedgehogs for winter.

Sorry for being totally off topic but I was exposed to Chris Packham at an impressionable age.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

When putting out food for hedgehogs there is always the risks any passing rat will take it. We have one in our garden as well, which is only to be expected if you live right next to water.