well, a clear night, promise of good seeing and a strong high pressure cell parked over us - with nearly hurricane force winds to ruin it
Now the weather chart shows calm conditions as per the high pressure, widely spaced isobars so where is this ridiculous wind coming form??
Scope: 4.5 inch Meade DS-114 Newt
Mags used: 121x, 151x
Eyepiece: 6, 7.5mm plossl
Seeing: 7-8/10, then rapid deterioration to 3-4.
Took the scope outside despite category 5 hurricane
. Dropped in a 7.5mm plossl (121x) and aimed at Jupiter. Surprisingly, the view was tack-sharp. I checked my collimation by aiming at an out of focus star and for once it was right on the money
Encouraged, I increased power to 151x (33x/inch of aperture - over the recommeded limit for Jupiter) and amongst all the jiggling and bad vibes I could clearly see two white ovals/white areas nestled under the NEB while low contrast streamers presented themselves under averted vision. I spotted atleast 5 belts and the rift in the SEB but the GRS was not in view this evening. I was overjoyed by this result, but sadly the wind made it fruitless to press on any further.
At this point, as Hurricane Annoyance raged on, the seeing suddenly nose-dived into the ground. Jupiter was now almost akin to a flag waving in a breeze. At this point I packed up. Happy but not.
Now I'll try for Mars, if I do actually get out of bed at 3am, I'll report back