Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Jupiter in opposition

A hot Autumn night! It's the 9th of March, and yet it is still 30℃ out there at 1:30am!

Jupiter is in opposition, it is a beautiful night with great transparency, but the seeing leaves a lot to be desired. There is a lot of shimmer going on.
However, as I stared at Jupiter the seeing occasionally cleared enough to focus on the main bands and see some other cloud detail. I also was able to make out the Great Red Spot, which is great - I'm very happy with that. You get spoilt by the photos of the GRS, it doesn't as great or red from here.  But I'm still sure I found it and am calling that a tick!
Started with the 30mm to dial in the finder scope, the progressed to the 17mm and then settled on the 2x Barlow and the 6mm EP.
Also tried filters 89A, 86, and 22 with some success. I think 86 was the best at showing some extra cloud detail tonight.
The four moons were clear, one on the left of the FOV and the other three making a flat triangle to the right.
Mars was up, but lower on the horizon where the seeing was even worse due to the hot air.

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