Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jun 4, 2010 5:08:44 GMT -6
A quick Jupiter Impact imaging session
04 June 2010
Success?....Dunno
04 June 2010
Success?....Dunno
News of this new incredible event hit the my news feeds last evening - caught on video too.
How cool is that?
It happened about 3:00pm Chicago time, and as Jupiter has a rotational period of 12 hours or so...just maybe - I could catch the impact site transit in Chicago skies.
It looked decent from my front porch windows, so I decided to try and see for myself.
I really did not want to set up the C11 beast, so I grabbed the C5 and made a quick job of prepping and did an estimate guess on polar alignment - as I could not find Polaris. (Polaris is a quick indicator on sky conditions for me - no see, very poor indeed.)
This was the first time my homemade dew shield would be used, ( astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ATM&action=display&thread=2732 ), and it works fine...
The shield blocks the annoying alley lights somewhat and increased the contrast. Good. It could just a bit more snugger.
My dog Laika was with me and keeping a watch as I set up the equipment outside of my garage...
Jupiter was still too low in the muck and the seeing was terrible - with clouds coming from the west. The last quarter Moon was out and took some shots until Jupiter came into better altitude...
Haze and passing clouds were making imaging poor, and certainly conditions would be the same for a dimmer Jupiter...
A clear patch finally resolved itself and I got a good view of Jupiter and started imaging with the Canon Powershot S3 attached to the C5...
I could not observe any impact site, but perhaps the images would produce something....
I took some video as well:
But not much is derived from it.
Excited that I was getting half decent shots considering the terrible sky conditions....I regretted that I did not set-up the C11 originally and took down the C5 to do just that.
Being so big, heavy and bulky...it takes some time, but Laika likes the Losmandy Mount case...
I was losing sky fast...and just as I powered up....I lost it completely....
I searched for sucker holes, but the clouds were getting thicker and fast moving from the west...
My impromptu session was over.
Laika was ready to come back in too.
Conclusion:
I dunno if I captured anything. There is some indication on a few images of something in the missing band area - left of center, but it could be dirt, crud or something else.
Conditions and the C5 just weren't enough to resolve anything for sure, but I hope to try again on the next clear opportunity.
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Original posting of news of the Jupiter impact with pics here:
astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=solarsystem&thread=2735&page=1
