Quote:
Originally Posted by ngcles
Hi PGC & All,
Great report mate -- loved it. I've suspected some detail on Ganymede with the 18" occasionally and it is a real test of seeng to be able to see such tiny low contrast detail. Well done!
Loved the description of NGC 2440 -- that's almost word-for-word how I'd put it too. I had a fabulous view of it about 10 years ago with my 31cm at x262 and x363 I remember with some fondness -- in the backyard at my old home.
Excellent stuff!
Best,
Les D
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Hey Les, great to hear from you again! This would've been a great opportunity to go after some of the tiny HSB summer PNs, and NGC 3918 in seeing like this, it's fun trying to eek as much detail as possible. Always wanted to go after 3918 in excellent conditions. I later looked up images of 2440 to compare to my own obs and discovered that the outer plumes of the PNe extends about 2x further than the parts I saw, something to try for next time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveG
Really enjoyed reading the observations. When the seeing is good, I can often distinguish the various disc sizes of Jupiter's moons, but never thought that surface details on Ganymede were doable. Amazing job!!
Another Jupiter challenge is viewing one of the outer satellites. I have an observing report on another board on viewing Himalia and more goodies.
--Steve |
Thanks! It's also interesting to note the moon's colours, on this night Callisto and Ganymede were side-by-side providing an interesting juxtaposition of Ganymede's yellowish hue against Callisto's pale ice-blue. Nice report on Himalia, sounds like it's within my reach at it's brightest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lismore Bloke
Hi Sab, I'm glad you had an exceptional night - you really made the most of it!! I would not not have thought it possible to see detail on any of Jupiter's main 4 moons with amateur sized instruments. It just goes to show that superb conditions and eyesight exceptionally acute and sensitive to detail can record something pretty special. Well done!!
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Hey Paul, seeing's gotta be near perfect in order to get the required magnification to blow up Ganymede's disk to a reasonable size, it's certainly difficult as even in great seeing, at very high power the tiny disk is still bouncing around and blurring quite a lot so you'd want to spend at least 15 minutes studying it.
On a related note, someone on CN claimed to see detail on Neptune (with an 11" scope IIRC) under what he describes as *perfect* seeing, it seems a little far fetched but would it really be possible
cheers!