Jovian Red Spot and Satellite Transit Sunday 20/3

[ausastronomer]

Hi All,

For those interested in planetary observation there will be an interesting double transit on Jupiter tomorrow night.

Commencing at 8:40pm the Great Red Spot (GRS) will begin to transit the planets disk. The GRS transit will conclude at approximately 12:15am.

At 9:25pm the shadow of the Galilean Satellite Europa will begin to transit the planets disk. The shadow transit will conclude at approximately 11:50pm.

At 10:00pm the Galilean Satellite Europa will begin to transit the planets disk. Europa will conclude its transit at 12:30am and conclude the show.

There will be 3 features visible concurrently from 10:00pm until about 11:50pm.

These features should be visible in telescopes of 80mm aperture and over and are well worth taking a look at.

Clear Skies
John Bambury

[janoskiss]

Thanks John! I had no idea... Europa transit confirmed by xephem. I'll take your word on the GRS transit. If the weather is kind I'll be on the lookout. Thanks again! :cheers:

[Exfso]

Thanks John, much appreciated, now if the gully winds would just die down, I might be able to get an image..

:astron:

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks John,

I'll be watching!

What would be funny is if we are ALL transfixed on Jupiter and no-ones watching the rest of the sky, and we all miss the birth of a Supernova in the western sky! lol

[slice of heaven]

Another newsflash hey. Argonavis had one on the moon last night. Keep em coming. Something extra to check out.

[iceman]

Thanks John, i'd attempt to image it but most likely won't because

a) it's cloudy and probably will be for the next few days
b) At that time it'll be pretty low on the horizon still, and so probably won't turn out so well.

But if it's clear, i'll give it a shot anyway. Thanks for the heads-up.

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

I can appreciate that it won't be perfect, actually I think it gonna be cloudy here :).

The next time there is a multiple GRS/Satellite/Shadow transit when Jupiter is well placed will be on Mon 23/5/05 at 6:50pm. There will then be constant transit activity with the GRS, Io, Europa and their shadows transiting the planets disk till midnight. That is a show not to be missed.

Clear Skies
John Bambury

[ballaratdragons]

In case anyone forgot,

a couple of minutes to go till the main Jovian Show. Scope all ready, seeing about 7/10.

Get ready folks.

[ballaratdragons]

Damn, Damn, Damn!!!

Just went outside and the wind has picked up. While I was putting the EP in, the whole sky clouded over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seeing is now 0/10. I will keep checking every 5 minutes to see if it blows away.

Tell us what you see.

[Starkler]

Im not seeing anything out of the ordinary.....no shadows, no GRS. The seeing is pretty bad here though :(

edit: seeing a shadow transit now and the grs . I think the times given may be AEST and not be AEDST ?

[janoskiss]

Forecasts are one (or maybe two) hours out. (I have similar problem with my astro software. It does not know about daylight savings.)

I can see the GRS now (10:35pm) and Europa about to transit. Some clouds about but might be ok. :prey:

[ausastronomer]

Sorry about that, times are 1 hour out because I forget to adjust for daylight saving Duhhhhh. May also be a few minutes out because of the location differences. Clouds here anyway.

The times I gave for the May transit are correct.

Clear Skies
John B

[ballaratdragons]

I'm still clouded in!

This current map says that Melbourne should be covered in cloud too.

[janoskiss]

Melbourne's good!! (well better than nothing). Some thin cloud cover here but can see moon + shadow + GRS. These are all rare sightings for me so I'm very impressed even though seeing is terrible.

Despite people saying how useless it is, that 4mm Andrews 500 Ploessl came in real handy (with the eyecup off). I couldn't see moon nor shadow with my other EPs.

:D

[Starkler]

Yep saw it all during glimpses of average seeing, thanks John.

[ballaratdragons]

COOOOOOOLLLLL!!!!!!

Had a 15 minute break in the clouds (seeing: 10/10) Saw all 3.

<b>Thankyou John.</b>

No matter how many times I see the Red Spot, the Moons or their shadows transit the planet it always amazes me, but all 3 at once!!! Outstanding.

Packed up now as light drizzle has come in.

(6.5mm series 500 plossl @ f5)

[janoskiss]

Awesome stuff! It's looking superb right now. Sharp black freckle on the surface and the GRS staring right at me. Can see it clearly now with the 9mm GSO Ploessl. Can't be sure of where the moon is though.. Gotta get tracking going next on this scope.

[ballaratdragons]

Steve,

If the moon shadow is about centre of Jupiter then Europa should be almost in line with it and us or very near it.

Sky is garbage here now.

[janoskiss]

Managed one more look; GRS and moon shadow were still visible, but it's all over now. Anyway, it was nice of the weather gods to give us this much.. And thanks again John! I would have missed it if it wasn't for your post! Great stuff! :2thumbs:

[ving]

and this is a classic case of what happens when you done hover around the forums all the time... you miss threads like this :(

bugger.