9/11/10 & 10/11/10 - Lucky days

[DarkRevenge (Luis)]

Hi all
I'm enjoying three days with excellent skies here in Argentina; no even a cloud at sight. Hope you guys are having good skies too.
I just want to tell you about my observations of the 9th and 10th of this month... two days that I will remember for a long time. Nothing special for most, but it means a lot for me and my 76mm. scope. So here we go...

I wanted to get relaxed for a while on 9th night (last month I've been working a lot for school) so I decided to take out my scope to take a look at the moon, which wasn't able to be seen at night until a few days ago. After giving a look at the moon I decided to see Jupiter. When I had it in field I realized there was missing one Galilean Moon. I thought it should be behind the planet, or perhaps in front of it (thought I wasn't able to see it because of Jupiter's brightness). I watched the planet for a while, when I saw a really small dark dot close to the centre of the planet. It was really really small! (It wasn't easy to see, and sometimes it dissapeared - probably when the air moves) My idea was that it should be the Galilean Moon shadow... but wasn't very sure, as I didn't know if my scope was able to see a shadow of such a small diamater. I spent some minutes watching it and finally decided to check Stellarium out to see what I was watching. The moon that was missing was Io, and was in front of the planet, as I'd thought. I went out again and I sticked my eye to the scope (took me some minutes to be able to visualize the shadow again as I'd had exposed the eye to light). So I spent about an hour there, watching the small dot moving through the planet... until I was able to see Io! It's the first time I see a transit!

10th day at night was amazingly clear again so I took out the scope. I hadn't forgotten the experience of the day before, but I wasn't expecting to see anything new that night. I directly aimed to Jupiter and again... there was one moon missing! I thought it should've been transiting again the planet, or perhaps it was hide behind it... I spent another hour there (my back was hurting - my chair isn't very comfortable lol -) and remained there, waiting for the moon to be seen. While I was waiting I saw sth that made me bristle my hair (idk if this expression is ok ). A line of light (idk how to describe it in english ) appeared for a fraction of a second and then went away. I thought it was a bolid (is this word ok? lol i'm not inspired today ), but asking in an Argentina astronomy forum I was told it was probably a "Flare de Iridium" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_flare) and that others astronomers had seen it too. What do you think guys?
So going back to Jupiter... At about 21:50hrs (argentina's time) I saw the moon appearing, but not from behind the planet... it appeared far away from it. It appeared very quickly (it took it about 3 minutes to be clearly visible), so I decided to check again Stellarium and it was an eclipse!. My first one too!

So, as you can see, I had a very exciting week! And now I'm leaving... clear sky again! What a good luck

Thx a lot for reading guys.
Cheers, Luis.

Edit: Some grammar mistakes

[Paddy (Patrick)]

What joy to have a couple of Jupiter moon events and an Iridium flare in 2 nights!Thanks for the post, Luis.

[Suzy]

Hi Luis,
reading your report was like reading a mystery novel (omg, then what?! lol). Was so much fun. Wow, sounds like you had a really great night. Well done with that collection at the eyepiece.

[DarkRevenge (Luis)]

Thanks for commenting Patrick and Suzy

Originally Posted by Suzy

Was so much fun.

Oh ok. Next time it will be more professional!

Cheers, Luis.

[Suzy]

Luis, please, no need to change, I really enjoyed the way you explained things, and the excitement that you were experiencing came across beautifully. I felt my jaw dropping at the eyepiece with you - that's a good thing! I meant "fun" in a good way - honestly . The way all the different obs reports are done makes them interesting. It would be dull if they were all the same . . Doesn't matter how their done, it takes us on a journey with you. I look forward to more from you, no matter what style of reporting. And heck, I'd be glad for even five lines at the best of times as I enjoy them so much

Have I successfully dug myself out of a hole, or do I keep the shovel handy... anymore word usage will require me to look up a Thesaurus.
I see the smiley emoticon at the end of your post so maybe you were having a bit of fun by saying that, but I just wanted to make sure all is good.

[DarkRevenge (Luis)]

Thanks for that Suzy You didn't need to explain anything, I was just kidding with you Perhaps I should've been more clear. It sometimes happen to me that I give something as understood, when in fact it isn't
I'm really, really sorry if I put you in an inconvenient situation
And I apreciate a lot your coment!

Cheers, Luis.

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Wow, what a treat Luis. Firsts are always memorable.

[ngcles]

Hi Luis,

Excellent report Luis --well done. While the shadow of Io on the Jovian cloud-tops is very small, it is equally very high contrast and that is the major reason it is visible in fairly small apertures in good seeing. Same goes for the Cassini division between the A and B rings of Saturn -- mind you, you need the rings a bit more open than at present.

Felicidades y un amigo bien hecho !



Best,

Les D

[leon]

Hi Luis, very interesting reading, don't worry about the grammar mate, it was fine I reckon, anyway it seems like you had a great time, keep at it and enjoy.

Leon

[DarkRevenge (Luis)]

Thanks a lot Michael, ngcles and leon. I really apreciate your comments

Cheers, Luis.