Jupiter 24th sept 2010

[chrisrnuttall]

Hello

apologies for not posting recently, a combination of poor weather and little time has limited my chances. Anyway here is Jupiter from Friday night.

Conditions were pretty tricky with gusting wind so strong it even produced a musical note from my telescope tube like a giant pan pipe! It also made for variable seeing, sometimes blurry, often boiling, but with patience there were enough fleeting stiller moments to make a detailed sketch.

The wind brought thick dark clouds from the north three times during the session, the first bank of cloud dropped a tiny amount of rain on me which had me packing up before even starting to sketch (not for the first time this month!) but the clear skies returned brefore i got very far so i decided to carry on - and I'm glad i did!

I saw three white ovals with dark outlines along the lumpy northern edge of the SPR (this is the SSTB i suppose)

The STB apeared to have two large dark brown irregular areas in it, one of which included an Oval BA hollow - although the poor conditions meant i could not actually confirm the oval itself. There were also a few very small dark spots just north of the STB, i could only confirm two of them, along with a tiny protrusion from the edge of the belt.

The SEB was evident to me as the clouds passed over jupiter making its brightness vary in the eyepiece, it was very pale and the edges seemed darker than the middle.

The GRS was bright orange with a paler centre and some fleeting detail which i could not resolve for long enough to actually commit to paper. It had a brighter halo around it in the SEB.

Io's shaddow was transiting Jupiter with the almost invisible disc of the moon right next to it, this became harder to see as it moved away from the darkened limb.

The EZ was bright, but conditions prevented me from seeing any of its low contrast detail.

The NEB seemed very active with numerous darker patches some of which protruded form the edges of the belt. Also seen were two white rifts which had dark outlines, particularly to their northern edges. I think these rifts have ended up a bit too big in my final sketch.

The NTB had one very dark oval in it.

The NPR was patchy / mottled with a longer dark feature along its southern edge.

22:15 to 00:15 bst

Orion SPX 200, TV 2X barlow, TV 8mm Plossl and Edmund 8mm RKE = 300X

Mostly unfiltered, but also used a blue filter to help with lower contrast features.

Chris

[Paul G. Abel]

Very nice use of colour, Chris. Alas, my scanner seems to reduce the colour in my drawings make them a little washed out- I must look into that!

I find the rifts in the NEB very striking, and the white ovals in the STB are also fairly prominent.

Best wishes,

-Paul.

[beamish]

Very striking image you recorded there Chris, XLNT

[chrisrnuttall]

Paul

I run mine through photoshop (levels adjustment) after scanning as they always look washed out at first.

cheers

[Talitha]

Outstanding details, Chris.

[Joe gray]

Wow!

[DarkerSky]

That's a super sketch Chris with some excellent detail. Your colour use is outstanding. The 3 ovals in the SSTB area are quite a catch. Like Paul, I'm captivated by the rifts in the NEB too

Glad you defied the raindrops and stayed out for the clearing sky!

[Petrol]

Love the sketch Good work