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  #21  
Old 07-01-2018, 08:38 AM
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Tinderboxsky (Steve)
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Bob, your comments captured my impressions too. Europa and Io were in very close conjunction which added to the scene as Glen noted.
We had clear skies here at 4.00am and I started observing with my 85mm Ziess spotting scope at 25X which allowed me to capture Mars, Jupiter and the wide pair Zubenelgenubi in the same FOV, along with a sprinkling of other field stars. It was a magnificent field.
I then swapped to my ED103S on a goto mount as I want to track the progress during the day. I found my Panoptic 24 giving 33X the best option as seeing here is just average.
At 5.30am, 10 minutes before sunrise, Jupiter’s disc had faded to a faint yellow with the main bands still very visible and the four moons starting to fade from view. Mars was a pretty bright pink. Mars was still almost vertically above Jupiter but had got noticeably closer to Jupiter.
At 8.30am, Jupiter was pale white against the blue sky with the main bands still visible. Mars was a bright pink. By now, the orientation of the two planets had clearly changed, reflecting the Earth’s rotation sweeping the two across the sky. Keeping Jupiter in the centre of the FOV Mars has clearly rotated clockwise. Note, my scope is showing a horizontal mirror reversed image.
At 9.30am, the pair are very close to culmination. Mars is now at about the 1.30 clock-face position relative to Jupiter.
I think closest approach is at about 11.25am, so Ill have another look then. I’ll visit Mercury and Saturn and view bright double stars in the meantime.


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Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob View Post
WOW! These are really close. Its like a visual double, a bright white and a lesser red.

Using a 120x ortho EP, I can comfortable fit both in the same field of view.

All Jupiter's Moons are strung out to one side, and Mars is roughly perpendicular to them, but only a about 2.5 times the visual distance as from Jupiter to outermost Callisto. Very impressive.

Although Mars is the less bright of the two, when I view it through the scope, it can be seen that it is brighter per unit of its surface area. There is just so much less of it.

No detail seen on Mars at 120x. Conditions are only fair. There is the largest ring around the Moon that I have ever noticed; over 20 degrees in radius. So more rain is probably on the way.
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  #22  
Old 07-01-2018, 10:05 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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Originally Posted by Tinderboxsky View Post
Bob, your comments captured my impressions too. Europa and Io were in very close conjunction which added to the scene as Glen noted.
We had clear skies here at 4.00am and I started observing with my 85mm Ziess spotting scope at 25X which allowed me to capture Mars, Jupiter and the wide pair Zubenelgenubi in the same FOV, along with a sprinkling of other field stars. It was a magnificent field.
I then swapped to my ED103S on a goto mount as I want to track the progress during the day. I found my Panoptic 24 giving 33X the best option as seeing here is just average.
At 5.30am, 10 minutes before sunrise, Jupiter’s disc had faded to a faint yellow with the main bands still very visible and the four moons starting to fade from view. Mars was a pretty bright pink. Mars was still almost vertically above Jupiter but had got noticeably closer to Jupiter.
At 8.30am, Jupiter was pale white against the blue sky with the main bands still visible. Mars was a bright pink. By now, the orientation of the two planets had clearly changed, reflecting the Earth’s rotation sweeping the two across the sky. Keeping Jupiter in the centre of the FOV Mars has clearly rotated clockwise. Note, my scope is showing a horizontal mirror reversed image.
At 9.30am, the pair are very close to culmination. Mars is now at about the 1.30 clock-face position relative to Jupiter.
I think closest approach is at about 11.25am, so Ill have another look then. I’ll visit Mercury and Saturn and view bright double stars in the meantime.
Steve, I like your remarks about Mars appearing pink. I followed Mars for about 30 mins after sunrise and was surprised how pink (rather than red) it appeared.

And that ring around the Moon I mentioned . . . it is now raining.
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  #23  
Old 07-01-2018, 11:00 AM
gjr80 (Gary)
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Hopefully an omen for the future, left my 4.5" newt setup after doing some observing last night before moonrise. When I got up just on 3:00am to view Jupiter and Mars they were nicely placed in a notch between 2 large gum trees. Usually I find things go the other way, whatever I want to see is usually hiding behind a tree, the problem of having large trees on 2.5 sides.

As for Jupiter and Mars, was great to be able to see both and Jupiters moons in the same field of view. At first I was wondering what happened to one of the moons as I could only see 3, a little better focussing and 3 became 4. The problems with having a dicky focusser.

My first time observing an event since resurrecting my scope late last year. Looking forward to 31 January and getting a better scope later this year.

Gary
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  #24  
Old 07-01-2018, 11:10 AM
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mozzie (Peter)
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Was delighted to awake to clear skies...
Very easily placed Jupiter and mars in the eyepiece with a nice placement of the moons as earlier posts stated..
Some trouble with getting the planets crisp in the eyepiece as the summer soupie atmosphere and living next to the ocean plays havoc some days..
Best seeing was after sunrise and so happy to have viewed this..

Come on lunar eclipse.....
And hopefully a clear night fingers crossed

Mozzie
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  #25  
Old 07-01-2018, 11:21 AM
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Tinderboxsky (Steve)
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Closest approach observation at 11.25am

To follow on from my earlier post: I took another look at 11.25am in bright sunshine - not a cloud in the sky.
Both Jupiter and Mars appeared fainter. Mars was quite difficult to see initially, even though I knew where to look. Once I found Mars it was easy enough to keep it in view. Mars was still a faint pink and Jupiter a washed out white. The bands on Jupiter we're only just visible, so perhaps the hot, higher Sun is now causing a lot more turbulence that is not obvious at 33X.
Mars was now positioned at 2.00 on a clock face with Jupiter at the centre. I could not see any change in angular separation from my earlier observation at 9.30. I would have needed a micrometer equiped eyepiece to see the small change. I think the two will now slowly separate.

I visited Mercury whilst waiting. Best view was at 62x. Mercury was a small, moderately bright shimmering irregularly shaped disk, reflecting it's current phase. I tried for Saturn, but to no avail - it was washed out by the Sun's glare despite some extra long shielding to keep stray light out.
I then visited Rigel Kent - bright white with a hint of blue. Best view was at 62x. Whilst a lot of turbulence, the pair were easily split in regular moments of better seeing. I had planned to visit Acrux next but I had left it too late as it was now just below my roof line. I had set the scope up close to the house to get some shielding from some occasional gusts of wind.
I visited Antares to finish up. I was a beautiful yellow-orange speck against the blue sky.
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  #26  
Old 07-01-2018, 12:39 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob View Post
WOW! These are really close. Its like a visual double, a bright white and a lesser red.

Using a 120x ortho EP, I can comfortable fit both in the same field of view.

All Jupiter's Moons are strung out to one side, and Mars is roughly perpendicular to them, but only a about 2.5 times the visual distance as from Jupiter to outermost Callisto. Very impressive.

Although Mars is the less bright of the two, when I view it through the scope, it can be seen that it is brighter per unit of its surface area. There is just so much less of it.

No detail seen on Mars at 120x. Conditions are only fair. There is the largest ring around the Moon that I have ever noticed; over 20 degrees in radius. So more rain is probably on the way.
This was the impression I got too Bob; like a giant double double with Zubenelgenubi, in the binos or 24Pan in the Refractor, with Jupiters moons to one side in my 10.5 x45 ED Binos... and a rather pinky looking Mars hardly any detail in the scope except on Jove, as I stayed Up till 330 am, it was only very low over the City skyline with Jupiter just below..an impressive sight !
bigjoe

Last edited by bigjoe; 07-01-2018 at 12:40 PM. Reason: Add
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  #27  
Old 07-01-2018, 01:02 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinderboxsky View Post
To follow on from my earlier post: I took another look at 11.25am in bright sunshine - not a cloud in the sky.
Both Jupiter and Mars appeared fainter. Mars was quite difficult to see initially, even though I knew where to look. Once I found Mars it was easy enough to keep it in view. Mars was still a faint pink and Jupiter a washed out white. The bands on Jupiter we're only just visible, so perhaps the hot, higher Sun is now causing a lot more turbulence that is not obvious at 33X.
Mars was now positioned at 2.00 on a clock face with Jupiter at the centre. I could not see any change in angular separation from my earlier observation at 9.30. I would have needed a micrometer equiped eyepiece to see the small change. I think the two will now slowly separate.

I visited Mercury whilst waiting. Best view was at 62x. Mercury was a small, moderately bright shimmering irregularly shaped disk, reflecting it's current phase. I tried for Saturn, but to no avail - it was washed out by the Sun's glare despite some extra long shielding to keep stray light out.
I then visited Rigel Kent - bright white with a hint of blue. Best view was at 62x. Whilst a lot of turbulence, the pair were easily split in regular moments of better seeing. I had planned to visit Acrux next but I had left it too late as it was now just below my roof line. I had set the scope up close to the house to get some shielding from some occasional gusts of wind.
I visited Antares to finish up. I was a beautiful yellow-orange speck against the blue sky.
A rare sight for us indeed Steve .

Stayed up for this, and earlier had easily split Theta Indi ..one of my personal favorites.

Jupiter and Mars together did look like a lovely wide double double in Binos , with the very wide Zubenelgenubi some degrees above and to left in Sydney...Mars pink, and no detail , soo low over Sydney at 330am... Jupiter the usual bands a yellow white ,with Moons to side in Binos and scope

Watched a bit more got inspired went over to Upsilon Carinae mags 3,6 sep 5.0"...that looks a bit like the brighter Rigel double ..very pretty, as is the wonderful Gamma Volantis nearby ..then slept...Not much cloud and an event to remember.
Thanks for your report.
bigjoe.

Last edited by bigjoe; 07-01-2018 at 01:04 PM. Reason: Add
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  #28  
Old 07-01-2018, 02:47 PM
Dennis
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I was hoping that the tightly spaced Jupiter/Mars pair would clear the trees before the dawn sky brightened too much – the trees blocking my Eastern Horizon had grown considerably in the last 12 months.

Tantalising glimpses of Jupiter and the 4 Galilean Moons materialised on the LCD on the back of the camera as the topmost branches swayed in the light breeze when finally, Jupiter and Mars cleared the top of the trees and I could get to work recording this close conjunction.

I took several frames at varying ISO speeds (ISO100 to ISO3200) and shutter speeds (1/8 sec to 30 secs) so I could later select frames that showed the field stars (Jupiter and Mars grossly over exposed) and the disc of Jupiter with the equatorial bands.

A little bit of Photoshop magic allowed me to combine the sets and produce this composite.

Cheers

Dennis
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  #29  
Old 07-01-2018, 03:03 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
I was hoping that the tightly spaced Jupiter/Mars pair would clear the trees before the dawn sky brightened too much – the trees blocking my Eastern Horizon had grown considerably in the last 12 months.

Tantalising glimpses of Jupiter and the 4 Galilean Moons materialised on the LCD on the back of the camera as the topmost branches swayed in the light breeze when finally, Jupiter and Mars cleared the top of the trees and I could get to work recording this close conjunction.

I took several frames at varying ISO speeds (ISO100 to ISO3200) and shutter speeds (1/8 sec to 30 secs) so I could later select frames that showed the field stars (Jupiter and Mars grossly over exposed) and the disc of Jupiter with the equatorial bands.

A little bit of Photoshop magic allowed me to combine the sets and produce this composite.

Cheers

Dennis
Nice images Dennis..one certainly can see how far away Callisto (Mag 5.6 at opposition), is visually from Jupiter in the sky ; Mars just over a degree gives one an indication.
bigjoe.
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  #30  
Old 07-01-2018, 03:18 PM
Dennis
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Originally Posted by bigjoe View Post
Nice images Dennis..one certainly can see how far away Callisto (Mag 5.6 at opposition), is visually from Jupiter in the sky ; Mars just over a degree gives one an indication.
bigjoe.
Thanks Joe, I appreciate your comments.

When I measured the separation between Jupiter and Mars in SkyTools 3 Pro, the program measured it at some 14 arc mins, less than ½ diameter of the full Moon.

Cheers

Dennis
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  #31  
Old 07-01-2018, 03:19 PM
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LostInSp_ce
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
I took several frames at varying ISO speeds (ISO100 to ISO3200) and shutter speeds (1/8 sec to 30 secs) so I could later select frames that showed the field stars (Jupiter and Mars grossly over exposed) and the disc of Jupiter with the equatorial bands.
Beautiful images thanks for sharing.
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  #32  
Old 07-01-2018, 04:17 PM
Dennis
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I also took some images of our Moon just before Jupiter and Mars cleared the tree line, using the same equipment set up and configuration, so I overlaid the Jupiter/Moon image over a Moon image to show just how close the 2 planets were.

Cheers

Dennis
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Old 07-01-2018, 04:57 PM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
I was hoping that the tightly spaced Jupiter/Mars pair would clear the trees before the dawn sky brightened too much – the trees blocking my Eastern Horizon had grown considerably in the last 12 months.

Tantalising glimpses of Jupiter and the 4 Galilean Moons materialised on the LCD on the back of the camera as the topmost branches swayed in the light breeze when finally, Jupiter and Mars cleared the top of the trees and I could get to work recording this close conjunction.

I took several frames at varying ISO speeds (ISO100 to ISO3200) and shutter speeds (1/8 sec to 30 secs) so I could later select frames that showed the field stars (Jupiter and Mars grossly over exposed) and the disc of Jupiter with the equatorial bands.

A little bit of Photoshop magic allowed me to combine the sets and produce this composite.

Cheers

Dennis
Nice work Dennis. Thanks for posting these.
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  #34  
Old 07-01-2018, 06:06 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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[QUOTE=Dennis;1351283]Thanks Joe, I appreciate your comments.

When I measured the separation between Jupiter and Mars in SkyTools 3 Pro, the program measured it at some 14 arc mins, less than ½ diameter of the full Moon.

Cheers

Dennis[/QUOTE
Now thats actually closer than I expected..Thanks for the info.
bigjoe.

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  #35  
Old 07-01-2018, 06:07 PM
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I saw both of them this morning (in EU, 18:30 AEDT), like yesterday, with my 80mm tabletop scope in the twilight on a cold winter morning with barely above freezing temps. Hard to imagine with 40+ temps in western NSW / Vic....

I took a video with the Canon Powershot S100 behind the 22mm Plössl and the 13T6 Nagler, and selected the best frames from it.
The moons were easily visible, but not on the photo.
Even with the TMB Planetary 4mm (130x) they both fitted in the FOV, but the seeing was horrible.

After two years (of 21 Dec 2020) there will be a VERY close (and so close once-in-a-lifetime) Jupiter-Saturn conjuntion, only 6' apart. Both move slowly, so there is a larger time window (even days) to see the close conjuction.

@Tinderboxsky: Nice daylight observations, you saw the +1.4 Mars with the Sun high in the sky ? Great ! Your ED103 is very similar to my ED110, which I also use for daylight views. And it amazed me that you saw Alpha Centauri 'bluish'. I see that star in daylight white with a slight yellow tinge as a contrast to the blue sky, like Capella which is also a G star. But the Sun is also a G star and (when high in the sky) it is not yellow at all, but that is because of the much brighter nature.
An F star like Canopus I indeed see white with a bluish tinge in the daytime.
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  #36  
Old 07-01-2018, 08:57 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Poo
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Originally Posted by skysurfer View Post
I saw both of them this morning (in EU, 18:30 AEDT), like yesterday, with my 80mm tabletop scope in the twilight on a cold winter morning with barely above freezing temps. Hard to imagine with 40+ temps in western NSW / Vic....

I took a video with the Canon Powershot S100 behind the 22mm Plössl and the 13T6 Nagler, and selected the best frames from it.
The moons were easily visible, but not on the photo.
Even with the TMB Planetary 4mm (130x) they both fitted in the FOV, but the seeing was horrible.

After two years (of 21 Dec 2020) there will be a VERY close (and so close once-in-a-lifetime) Jupiter-Saturn conjuntion, only 6' apart. Both move slowly, so there is a larger time window (even days) to see the close conjuction.

@Tinderboxsky: Nice daylight observations, you saw the +1.4 Mars with the Sun high in the sky ? Great ! Your ED103 is very similar to my ED110, which I also use for daylight views. And it amazed me that you saw Alpha Centauri 'bluish'. I see that star in daylight white with a slight yellow tinge as a contrast to the blue sky, like Capella which is also a G star. But the Sun is also a G star and (when high in the sky) it is not yellow at all, but that is because of the much brighter nature.
An F star like Canopus I indeed see white with a bluish tinge in the daytime.
That Saturn /Jupiter conjunction not far off will be one of the visual and imaging astro feasts of the century..Imagine the view at ultra high power of both , and in the same field..priceless!

PS:Imagine showing this to people at Outreach events!

bigjoe.

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  #37  
Old 07-01-2018, 10:42 PM
Saturnine (Jeff)
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Had a look at the conjunction this morning, clear skies all night but the seeing was terrible. Could barely make out Jupiters main cloud bands at 140X in the 127mm f7 but seeing Jupiter, its moons and Mars in the one field of view at , just, at 237X with an WO 4mm UW eyepiece was something that wont be seen again by my eyes.
Did take some avis' too that I will get around to processing soon, I hope. May have been better off using a dslr as Dennis' images are what I'm hoping mine may approach in detail and quality.
Looking forward to Mars and Saturn in early April when Mars is larger, 8" - 9" but just over 1 deg. apart and on Dec. 22nd Jupiter and Mercury ( 8" ) will be only 0.8 deg. apart , low in the eastern morning sky.
The 2020 Jupiter / Saturn conjunction is really something to look forward to, gives me a few years to hone my imaging skills, as that will be spectacular. Any bets on a cyclone on the east coast the week before xmas 2020.
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Old 07-01-2018, 11:31 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saturnine View Post
Had a look at the conjunction this morning, clear skies all night but the seeing was terrible. Could barely make out Jupiters main cloud bands at 140X in the 127mm f7 but seeing Jupiter, its moons and Mars in the one field of view at , just, at 237X with an WO 4mm UW eyepiece was something that wont be seen again by my eyes.
Did take some avis' too that I will get around to processing soon, I hope. May have been better off using a dslr as Dennis' images are what I'm hoping mine may approach in detail and quality.
Looking forward to Mars and Saturn in early April when Mars is larger, 8" - 9" but just over 1 deg. apart and on Dec. 22nd Jupiter and Mercury ( 8" ) will be only 0.8 deg. apart , low in the eastern morning sky.
The 2020 Jupiter / Saturn conjunction is really something to look forward to, gives me a few years to hone my imaging skills, as that will be spectacular. Any bets on a cyclone on the east coast the week before xmas 2020.
Cyclone Jeff .. ha... who knows ..very poor seeing lately in Sydney.
Mars and Saturn will be a cracker also in April..and I too will want to image them, and they'll be around some stunning doubles also, as well as very close to stunning M22 April 1st.
Imagine that also; Mars and M22 only 21 minutes of arc separating them!
bigjoe.

Last edited by bigjoe; 07-01-2018 at 11:39 PM. Reason: Add
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  #39  
Old 08-01-2018, 05:28 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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Mars is still close to Jupiter this morning. The gap between the two appears to be about 40 to 50% wider than yesterday. However, I can still, just fit them into the same field of view at 120x using an otho EP. My guess is that they are a little bit over of a third of a degree apart.

Mars has moved from yesterday being above (to the west) of Jupiter to today being along side (to the south-east),
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Old 09-01-2018, 08:43 AM
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I had a quick look this morning. The planets were about 0.5 to 0.6 degrees apart, which is still impressive, but pales in comparison with the previous 2 mornings.
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