After what seems like an eternity of clouds, tonight saw a couple of precious hours of observation of Jupiter before the haze started to close in.
The Equipment:
HEQ5 Pro mount
Skywatcher 150/1800 Maksutov-Cassegrain
TeleVue Nagler type IV 17mm & 22mm EP's
Bintel 2 x Barlow
Dew heater
Bluetti EB55 power unit
Conditions
Bortle 3 ~ 4 skies
Winds slight, 3 to 5 km/h
Elevation - 855m above sea level, central west of NSW
Humidity 57%, rising to about 85% by the time I started to pack up.
Temperature 14 degrees C, dropping to 8 degrees during observation.
The odd curious mozzie...
The ground is sodden from all the rain. Extra care was needed to setup and level the tripod and mount, and balance the 'scope due to the softness of the ground.
Jupiter was a magnificent sight, with coloured bands and belts clearly visible. Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto were visible as bright points, although the brightness of the planet drowned out some of the fainter nearby stars. The moon wasn't in the sky. As a result, visibility of the planet was excellent until the low level haze started to set in.
