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[Doug]

Since I am new to owning a telescope, I have been waiting for a couple months to get a chance to see Jupiter move away from the Sun. I knew it was coming up early in the morning before dawn.

I have a unique situation in that my back deck faces west, and my girlfriend's back deck faces east. So based on where I plan to do some viewing, I have to know which apartment to go to. So I spent the night at her place, and set the alarm for 5:00 AM. I managed to drag myself out of bed and not wake her and set up the scope. I think she thinks I'm a little loopy for getting up so early on a Sunday morning!

Jupiter was quite bright in the eastern sky, and it was not difficult to find it. It is so cool to see for real something that I have looked at in books and magazines all my life. Jupiter looked like it was tilted on it's side. I couldn't make out much more than maybe two faint reddish bands across it's sphere. I could not see the big red dot, although I hear it is fading from red to more of a salmon in recent years.

I also saw all four moons which was great. I could see how close Io is to the planet, and it makes sense how volcanically active it is with the intense gravitation pull exerted upon it.

I also thought about how it must have been for Galilleo to see these moons for the first time, and in subsequent viewings, to realize that they rotated around Jupiter, thus indicating that not everything revolves around the Earth. And or course he published his theories on this and got in hot water with the church, but that's another story.

At any rate, just wanted to share with people my experience. It is just very awesome to experience something like that firsthand, as opposed to seeing a picture.

Hope to see you all soon at the next gathering!

-Doug

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Doug,

Congrats on your first view of Jupiter, as it is no longer just a picture in a magazine for you. It is a nice past time to track the moons each night as they change positions. Passive observers are fascinated that another planet's moons can actually be seen.

I don't remember if you have filters to work with, but if your do, different one's reveal different aspects. I like to use a sepia/reddish one...as it increases the contrast of the banding. And...I do recall that the Red Spot was indeed a bit more intense when I was a kid than it is now. Perhaps in the 1200's, it was the darkest red anywhere!

You didn't say if you observed anything else, but Saturn is about straight up above our heads, and Mars is just creeping up from the horizon.

Great, now you can check off yet another celestial target on your to view list.

[Al Degutis]

Doug,

Congrats. The Jupiter and Saturn are such great targets.

Did you see any of the other three moons? If not, keep getting up early on those clear mornings and be sure to look for the rest. It is a cool site to see them all around the planet.

What eyepieces did you use for observing (e.g. 26mm)?
You'll need to use a wide view, giving you less detail on Jupiter itself, to capture all the moons.

[dewayne]

Congrats.
First sightings are always memorable.
Be sure not to forsake Venus.
Even though you can't see its surface, Venus is a much under-rated object to look at IMHO.
It's fun to watch it go through its phases.
It's best to look at with a Moon filter, or even better a variable polarizing filter.

[gettr]

Congrats on Jupiter! I just found it a month or so ago myself. It's funny how it seems to be described through other people's scopes. Through my spotting scope, it seems very blue with yellow bands. Not at all like the pics I've seen. (Or is that just horrible CA??? lol) What kind of scope are you using? And if you marry this girl.... are you gonna keep both houses?....lol
Congrats again,
Dennis

[Al Degutis]

gettr said:

And if you marry this girl.... are you gonna keep both houses?....lol
Dennis

Don't be silly Dennis.

Hey Doug, be sure to look at the newlywed home at night during a new moon so see what horizons you can view. LOL

;D

[Doug]

I think I would prefer one home with views of the whole sky. It is a dilemma though. I am somewhat jealous of Al who doesn't have to suffer through all the light pollution in Chicago. But I also don't want to move away from all the great things that a city affords. Too bad Chicago can't turn off all the street lights at night!

To answer your earlier question Al, I was looking through a 32mm, 15mm, and 9mm eyepiece. It is frustrating through -- if I push the magnification too hard, everything blurs out. I guess I can only do so much with my 3.5" scope. I am already getting aperature/focal length envy! I did see all four moons which was very cool. It would be neat to see if I can see a shadow cast one of the moons.

Joe, I'll try using some filters next time. And I have been checking out Saturn and Venus as well. I have yet to see Mars, although I read that it will really start to get interesting next year.

Dennis, I'm using a Meade ETX90 Mak-Cassegrain. It has a 90mm aperature so not too big. But since it is a "Mak", it has a pretty long focal length (1250mm), so I can get pretty good magnification. It is also very portable, and has GOTO, so it's very handy at locating things in the sky. Although I'm seeing that Meade just upgraded their ETX line, so maybe I bought the thing at the wrong time! Oh well....

-Doug

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I remember in July of 1996, observing the impact sites of comet Hale-Bopp on Jupiter's apparent surface. Very small in my modest scope, but certainly discernible. PBS ran live coverage of the event in the early hours, I have it around somewhere.

I found that Mars isn't all that remarkable in the eyepiece, even at it's closest point. But it was fun during the Mars Madness a couple of summers ago. Ice cap and some terrestrial shading is all, but it was far better than the usual plain red dot we get to see most of the time. The larger scopes embrace it better.

Mercury is quite elusive and a challenge to catch, but nice to have seen. A small reddish point in a moon-like crescent phase at times.

So far Pluto is the only Planet to have escaped my gaze.

With all this planet talk, I shall now put on a Gustav Holst CD and enjoy.

[Al Degutis]

Doug said:

To answer your earlier question Al, I was looking through a 32mm, 15mm, and 9mm eyepiece. It is frustrating through -- if I push the magnification too hard, everything blurs out. I guess I can only do so much with my 3.5" scope. I am already getting aperature/focal length envy!

Doug,

The blurriness may be because you pushed the magnification but it could also be the "seeing". Bad seeing is caused by atmospheric turbulence combined with different temperatures. With bad seeing its difficult to get a lot of planetary detail and you may observe a motion that looks like rippling water. I have the same problem even under my dark skies.

As for the "aperture envy", that's what star parties are for. Sometimes I wish I had a larger aperture and other times I wish I had a small scope I can quickly set up for short, or last minute observations. We amateur astronomer types are never happy.