Jupiter's Moons

[C.]

Hello
I have been outside looking at Jupiter through my little Tasco and I was wondering if anyone could tell me which of Jupiter's moons I was looking at. There were three. One above (at about 11-o-clock) and two below (at around 5-o-clock). The time was around 1am S.A. time. Sorry if I'm not explaining this right, I'm new to observing. Any help appreciated.
Cheers
Carol.

[Dennis]

Hello, Carol

Here is a screen capture from the planetarium program "Starry Night Pro V5" as a result of setting the time to 5:00pm, date 16 June 2006 and location Brisbane.

Hope that helps you find them and name them - good observation with the bino's by the way - well done!

Edit: And now that I have read your post correctly..:doh: here is a screen shot of Jupiter and moons as at 1:00am 17 June 2006.

Cheers

Dennis

[C.]

Thank you so much for the information Dennis. The planetarium program sounds very interesting. I will do a search to find out what's available as I'm sure it's very useful.
Cheers
Carol

[[1ponders]]

Hi Carol, there are a number of free ones on the net. The most popular would probably be Cartes du Ciel (http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/). It takes some getting used to but is a fabulous program.

[C.]

Paul. Many thanks for the link. I have now downloaded Cartes du Ciel and am amazed at the amount of information in it. What a terrific program. Much appreciated.

Dennis. I realize now that my description of the position of the moons didn't take into account that I wasn't using the erecting eyepiece so they would have been mirror-image. Dotty old girl that I am it took me ages to work out that out. :doh:

[Dennis]

Hello, Carol

Yes, the orientation of the telescopic field of view can be quite challenging at times, depending on what ‘scope and accessories you are using.


When using my binoculars, the image is the same way up as the naked eye view, as well as the right way around (i.e. left is left and right is right).
When using my refracting or Schmidt Cassegrain (SCT) telescope and no star diagonal, the image is upside down but the right way around.
When I use a (mirror) star diagonal, the mirror flips the image, giving a right way up view, but with a reversed (mirrored) left to right image.

If your telescope is a Newtonian design, then it should follow the same rule as the Schmidt Cassegrain, as it also has two reflecting surfaces; the (large) primary mirror that collects the star light and the (smaller) secondary mirror that directs the light to your eyepiece.

Then there is the view through your finder ‘scope, the small sighting ‘scope that sits on top of the main optical tube. I have both a straight through model and a right angle view model (minimizes neck strain) and I have to use mental gymnastics to figure out which way the field of view is depending on which finder ‘scope I am using.

Cheers

Dennis