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Old 08-04-2008, 08:45 PM
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Attn Melb observers: great seeing tonight

For folks in Melbourne, this is definitely the night to haul out your scopes & have a good look at Saturn. The sky is not transparent, but the atmosphere is extremely stable. Well worth trying your high power eyepieces & barlows!
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Old 09-04-2008, 07:33 AM
你B
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I was supposed to be outside this morning viewing Jupiter but couldn't even lift myself outta bed. I thought I saw a bit of cloud aswell. SO that's night 3 I missed out on.

And now its too late, will be cloudy tonight and showers and cloud for the rest of the freaking week, Melbourne style.

GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr

DAMN UNI

Last edited by 你B; 09-04-2008 at 07:53 AM.
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Old 09-04-2008, 08:14 AM
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Well I did wait up for Jupiter but was a little disappointed. Apart from the clouds.. when they did break the view was reasonable but to me, not quite as brilliant as Saturn the night before. I could see 3 bands but no spot. This was actually my first view ever of that planet, so I was still pretty chuffed, but the clouds did spoil the party for me. I didn't try beyond 200x, being my 12.5mm barlowed.
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Old 09-04-2008, 08:32 AM
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What time were you viewing Jupiter? It may have been a bit low when you were looking at it - I find the early hours of the morning best right now, when it is near the zenith. The spot is very obvious, & if you didn't see it, then it would be on the other side of the planet.
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Old 09-04-2008, 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by PhilW View Post
What time were you viewing Jupiter? It may have been a bit low when you were looking at it - I find the early hours of the morning best right now, when it is near the zenith. The spot is very obvious, & if you didn't see it, then it would be on the other side of the planet.

Hi Phil

It was about 1:30am as I had to wait for it to clear my rooftop, which probably wasn't helping the seeing. I looked hard for the spot, but I'm sure it will be obvious in better conditions and closer to zenith. I'm not a morning person unfortunately
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Old 09-04-2008, 08:42 AM
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I got out at 9pm, primarily to get a feel for a newly-acquired eyepiece. Spent a while on Saturn. Not that good for me. Some moments of good seeing, but I think transparency was down - I could smell smoke earlier in the evening. However I learnt what I wanted about the eyepiece so a successful evening
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Old 09-04-2008, 08:51 AM
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I ended up spending about an hour off & on observing it. I would say it was the second-best night I've had this Saturn season (the best was in the early hours of the morning at the start of 08). The eyepieces I used were:

- Pentax XF 8.5
- Pentax XW 7
- Nagler 5mm T6
- Pentax XF 8.5 + TeleVue 2x barlow.

The air was easily stable enough to support the barlowed XF (375x), but the most pleasing view was with the XW 7. It's not a traditional planetary eyepiece, but I get great planetary views out of it regardless.
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Old 09-04-2008, 11:15 AM
你B
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilW View Post
I ended up spending about an hour off & on observing it. I would say it was the second-best night I've had this Saturn season (the best was in the early hours of the morning at the start of 08). The eyepieces I used were:

- Pentax XF 8.5
- Pentax XW 7
- Nagler 5mm T6
- Pentax XF 8.5 + TeleVue 2x barlow.

The air was easily stable enough to support the barlowed XF (375x), but the most pleasing view was with the XW 7. It's not a traditional planetary eyepiece, but I get great planetary views out of it regardless.
that's pretty bloody impressive when taking into account Saturn's modest altitude. No doubt 500-600x would've been doable if Saturn were near the zenith like Jupiter. Last month I got a few seconds of rock steadiness on Saturn at 350x on my 12" dob, very nice, but most of the time so far I've found it hard to exceed 200x.
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Old 09-04-2008, 02:46 PM
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I could see 3 bands but no spot. This was actually my first view ever of that planet, so I was still pretty chuffed, but the clouds did spoil the party for me.
Hi programmer - there was a Red Spot transit at 10pm last night (also 7:56am this morning). This is midpoint, and the spot is said to be best for viewing for about 50 min either side. So at 1:30am it wouldn't have been showing. Sky & Telescope have GRS transit predictor on their web-site, but you do have to register (no charge) to use it. There is other freeware on the web, such as "Jupiter 2".

Cheers -
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Old 09-04-2008, 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Rob_K View Post
Hi programmer - there was a Red Spot transit at 10pm last night (also 7:56am this morning). This is midpoint, and the spot is said to be best for viewing for about 50 min either side. So at 1:30am it wouldn't have been showing. Sky & Telescope have GRS transit predictor on their web-site, but you do have to register (no charge) to use it. There is other freeware on the web, such as "Jupiter 2".

Cheers -
I got a copy of Jupiter2.. good stuff. Looks like I won't be seeing the spot for a while...
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Old 09-04-2008, 05:41 PM
你B
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certainly won't with the upcoming CRAP weather
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Old 09-04-2008, 06:24 PM
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certainly won't with the upcoming CRAP weather

Yes.. there is that too
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