Since December I have enjoyed many Galilean moon events; transits and shadow transits, moon on moon n Jupiter on moon occultation's and a moon on moon eclipse. One of my favorite sights is the defined moon disc at ingress/egress.
Last night I keenly enjoyed Callisto occult Ganymede, the reduction in brightness of Ganymede was obvious, and then settled down to watch for Io reappearing from behind Jupiter.
Waiting . . waiting . . what the . . golly gosh, is that tiny faint orange star out there 1/3 to 1/2 Jupiter's diameter away . . . I'm sure that wasn't there before . . . is it a minor moon WOW?? . . .there's no space craft there, can't be that . . toooo far any ways . . . who to text to claim the discovery . . (move ova bird and ags_ ) . . . its real cos its getting brighter . . . fast . . its like it's coming around Jupiter and getting closer. . . . . . aaaaah now its a disc . . . its Io !!!!
Now I have my first eclipse reappearance, n I like it!!
Sounds like your really enjoying that new scope, ya just can't beat aperture. Jupiter is always a good object to view, there is always a lot of movement with the moons and cloud bands. I can remember my first shadow transit many years ago, way before internet, saw it by pure chance and watched the whole transit. My Jupiter highlight though was watching the impact marks rotating into view after the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into the planet.
I totally agree Matt,
Something worth watching every evening in prime time, n bright enough to enjoy between/through cloud or moonlight. A mini solar system in, a not to be seen for another 6 years, edge on alingnment.
And i'm only at step 2 of AA, what an awesome addiction!
Only step 2 of AA adiction? Step 1 = 8" scope, step 2 aperture fever =(16" scope). Step 3? Did you put a camera in front of the eyepiece during the total lunar eclipse? Watch out for step 4.
Here is a teaser 1/50 sec iso 100 single frame 9-03-15 io and shadow transit Not the best pic but done with a 10" dob.
Rick
yes Rick, indeed I did take some snaps with my smart(er than me) phone through the 25 mm plossl, and they turned out OK.
Thanks for your pic, very nice. Has Io already moved off, I can only see the shadow on J? Also is that comparable with your ep view?
I dunno what step 3 will be, I doubt AP tho, tooooo fiddley n techy for me . . . I'd finish up needing the full 12 steps of the other AA probably more aperture, maybe something with a science bent???
Lots a fun AND improvement still to be had at 2; winter nights, galaxies, new moon desert trips.. . . . yeah could be a while at 2.
What have others, who have not gone down the AP slippery slope, done when/if the visual thrill wanes?
L
Yea Io has just moved of the disc at the end of the shadow transit. It was easy to see the shadow but I could not see the moon crossing the disc.
You have already started step 3, basic AP by putting the smarter phone camera to the eyepiece. Sure at the top end AP can be a highly technical and expensive deal, but you can do a lot on the simple and cheap side with modern tech, and capture a few momento's.
Here's a pic of the moon and jupiter (daytime shot) through a pair of binoculars with a point and shoot camera.
Ahh.. the slippery slope for young padawans ...next you'll be wanting a webcam to do planetary video and then you are doomed, doomed forever. I see a big CCD in your future.
If you want to see the moon over the disc get a pair of binoviewers….A few years ago I did a compare on Jup with Io and shadow showing and bino's with GSO 15mm Superviews showed both shadow and moon easily…swapping over to the 'supposedly' brilliant XW 7mm, which gave the same image size, I could see no moon…shadow yes, but Io was missing in the action….Bino's do it for me on some targets.
When one tires of seeing with the eye…one tires of life….my moto.
G day fellas, jus watched Io ingress and could see it for a while on J, that's with the 8" n 4.7mm.
Thanks for the pic Rick, n maybe yeah, as long as its simple!! Visually on good nights I see the moon with difficulty and not near the limbs.
Brent, don't give up your night job for future telling )
Matt, I was gunna ask about your steps, given your ep's, no camera, 2011 join and over 800 posts. Your post just now gives me some indication. So the visual buzz hasn't waned? and I swap eyes when viewing, so wanna try binos!
Bino's aren't for everyone apparently. Some 10% of the population (no idea how that figure comes up) can't merge images…I have trouble when I'm tired too but it is much more relaxing to sit and watch with two eyes. When the seeing is great I have sat there for two hours or so. I do have a tracking scope which helps a huge amount.
For me bino's are the high power eyepiece(s) of choice…in my 6" f12 Refractor…my scope of choice…on my non GOTO EQ mount of choice….
Hows Io? Cloudy here as usual As for posts I think once I have said nice image, on a pic of Mars that looked the same as what I saw in the eyepiece.
AP is not my thing.
Thanks for the insights Matt, n I will try binos before buy. I'll learn some about tracking but not go to. So far I'm OK with nudge-watch-nudge .. . but would like it to be silky smooth, as is, both scopes are sticky.
I'm trying with success so far, skEye app on android device n elbow grease for go to.
I couldn't see Io and watched for half an hour after shadow ingress without seeing it either. There was thin high cloud, and by 11 my secondary had fogged. Got my 12v hairdrier in the post today
Last night I again observed Io reappear from Jupiter's shadow, and was reminded of my early April experience. I really enjoyed this event but it wasn't as exciting as my earlier misunderstanding :-) There was a GRS transit at the same time, nice!
I haven't been successful lately with shadow transits, and its noticeable that the system is further away with Jupiter's disk appearing significantly smaller and harder to see detail.
Saturn is putting on a great show tho; I get the Cassini gap n occasionally the Enke and C ring, nice pastel banding on Saturn, I can pick Titan but still working out the others.
I got one great view of comet Masters(sans tail tho) near Sirius about a week ago, but now can't find it.
If these skies hold as the moon wanes the DSOs will be great! But geeee wizz it got down to 7*C here last night and I AM tropically adapted now, after growing up near Canberra :-\ bbrrrrrrrr
Cheers, L
Update; June 4 I could easily see Ganymede's shadow from 5.50 until egress around 6.30
Update; June 5 :-) got comet Masters, no tail tho.
) . . . its real cos its getting brighter . . . fast . . its like it's coming around Jupiter and getting closer. . . . . . aaaaah now its a disc . . . its Io !!!!
yes Rick, indeed I did take some snaps with my smart(er than me) phone through the 25 mm plossl, and they turned out OK.
As for posts I think once I have said nice image, on a pic of Mars that looked the same as what I saw in the eyepiece.
