trouble viewing Jupiter

[caleb]

I went outside last night at about 11:45pm and was planning to see Jupiter, i went out a dark area and saw a bright 'star-like' body and said to myself, "thats definitly it".
So I went and got my scope and set up set-up. But then I could't see any detail. It definitly has a larger in magnitude to Saturn, and I can see that and its rings. The best thing while looking at it was the 3 moons i think i could see. I then chucked the 2X barlow on which made it worse.
Is there something i'm doing wrong. Also, The star was between a house and a large tree. I know there wasn't any branches obstructing the view. I have also read that looking at a something only a bit over the top of a roof on a house is bad becuase of the heat waves, But it was chilli, not jumper weather but it was cold. And I was looking over the top of the roof, it was on the side of the wall.

[edwardsdj]

Hi Caleb,

Are you sure you have the right object?

It should be by far the brightest object in the sky at that time.

Like all planets, wait for it to get a bit higher and keep looking. The more you look the more you will see. Jupiter is considerably larger than Saturn and exhibits much detail in good seeing. I'm really not sure what you can see with 80mm apeture though. Maybe someone else can help?

If you are looking at Jupiter you should be able to easily see four moons (on most nights) and two dark bands across the planet.

Using a Barlow in poor seeing will just make things worse.

Have fun,
Doug

[Ian Robinson]

Should have been about 35 degrees above the horizon at that time.

Your eyepiece or objective weren't misted up were they ?

[AlexN]

I used to have this same problem when I started viewing jupiter, As Doug said, keep looking, as it is so bright compared to most anything else you look at, It will take your eyes a fair bit more time to adjust to it.

Even through my 50mm refractor after my eyes adjust I can see two prominent dark bands and the 4 moons (unless one is in transit/occulation)

keep looking, and try to stay up later.. Tomorrow being a public holiday, I suggest staying up till 2am - 3am and viewing jupiter while its almost at zenith... Much sharper, clearer viewing.

Good luck.

[iceman]

AS the others have said, wait till it gets higher. It's a mistake to try and view the planets when they're too low -you'll just be disappointed.

The detail you can see also depends greatly on your collimation and the seeing.

[AlexN]

Last night from brisbane at 2:30am was an absolute cracker! Wish my ToUcam had arrived already!

[goober]

I can see 3-6+ bands with my 101mm refractor, red spot, shadow transits, etc, depending on conditions. I would have through Jupiter too low to get a good view at 11:45pm.

[Davros]

I had a squiz at it last night from Caboolture at about half eleven. It was only 10 degrees above the horizon and very average seeing through our atmosphere that low, although bands were easily discernable through the 10 inch. Cant wait till work allows me some late night veiwing.

[lacad01]

I also had a peek quite early this morning (1:00AM) from lovely light polluted Sydney and was amazed by what I could make out in terms of detail. I didn't stick at it though as it was an impromptu decision to get the scope out when I saw how clear the night was...also the cold air didn't help ;)