Post by Doug on Nov 14, 2004 23:59:46 GMT -6
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
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