Jupiter was at opposition back on May 9th, but was clouded out that night. Last night at 11pm I had a quick look out the front door and was pleased to see that not only was Jupiter nearly at zenith, but the sky all around it was clear, as was Saturn further down to the East.
Grabbed Dobby and started with the 13mm on Jupiter, which was very bright, but clearly saw two strong bands and a fainter, smaller, third band. The moons were in interesting positions, with (quick check of JoveMoons) Callisto and Ganymede close together and Io in close all on the right of the image, and Europa stuck out on the left by itself.
I tried the blue filter, which reduced the glare a bit but I'm not sure if I saw any extra detail with it. I also tried it with the Barlow, but that just magnified the atmospheric distortion so wasn't really worth it. I then put the yellow filter on my 6mm ep and found the extra magnification worked well, and the filter enhanced the bands a bit.
Had a good look and grabbed a few photos on the mobile.
I then had a quick look at the bright star to the North. Just because it was quite prominent and ruddy. It was Arcturus, the red giant in Bootes - although the constellation was not visible in the light polluted low Northern city sky. I don't notice Arcturus very often, but as the third brightest star in the night sky, and an interesting red giant as well, I'm going to work to memorise it as another sign post.
I then swung over to Saturn, now high enough in the eastern sky to be visible above the neighbours and the bushes in my garden.
It's been a long while since I last observed Saturn (has it been since the science day last year at the primary school???)
These observations were rushed, as the bastard clouds were rapidly approaching, sweeping around from the South West. I lost sight of Saturn behind clouds twice as I was observing due to the broken leading edge of the clouds. I tried a couple of rushed photos and then the clouds covered the sky almost entirely - except for a gap low on the East where Mars shone brightly. Unfortunately too low to bring the scope on to.
Some interesting more observing to do.
Saturn reaches opposition on Wednesday June 27th, and Mars on Friday July 27th. Maybe I should try firing up T for another dark sky excursion?
Grabbed Dobby and started with the 13mm on Jupiter, which was very bright, but clearly saw two strong bands and a fainter, smaller, third band. The moons were in interesting positions, with (quick check of JoveMoons) Callisto and Ganymede close together and Io in close all on the right of the image, and Europa stuck out on the left by itself.
I tried the blue filter, which reduced the glare a bit but I'm not sure if I saw any extra detail with it. I also tried it with the Barlow, but that just magnified the atmospheric distortion so wasn't really worth it. I then put the yellow filter on my 6mm ep and found the extra magnification worked well, and the filter enhanced the bands a bit.
Had a good look and grabbed a few photos on the mobile.
I then had a quick look at the bright star to the North. Just because it was quite prominent and ruddy. It was Arcturus, the red giant in Bootes - although the constellation was not visible in the light polluted low Northern city sky. I don't notice Arcturus very often, but as the third brightest star in the night sky, and an interesting red giant as well, I'm going to work to memorise it as another sign post.
I then swung over to Saturn, now high enough in the eastern sky to be visible above the neighbours and the bushes in my garden.
It's been a long while since I last observed Saturn (has it been since the science day last year at the primary school???)
These observations were rushed, as the bastard clouds were rapidly approaching, sweeping around from the South West. I lost sight of Saturn behind clouds twice as I was observing due to the broken leading edge of the clouds. I tried a couple of rushed photos and then the clouds covered the sky almost entirely - except for a gap low on the East where Mars shone brightly. Unfortunately too low to bring the scope on to.
Some interesting more observing to do.
Saturn reaches opposition on Wednesday June 27th, and Mars on Friday July 27th. Maybe I should try firing up T for another dark sky excursion?
No comments:
Post a Comment