Jupiter tonight at 2am - are you up for it, the rewards can be soooo sweet

[davidpretorius]

Ok guys, things seem to be getting a little better. I was going to add this to the "beginner's imaging comp thread", but my ramblings got away from me and I thought I may as well share with all

So whos up for getting up at 2am for Jupiter??????

We have the great red spot at around 2 - 3 am saturday morning. This computer program i use for images is fast by about an hour

So to prepare for such an event so that weather permitting, I can make sure it is as hassle free as possible!

Here is what I do:

Check the jetstream: (http://www.wunderground.com/auto/virtuallythere_jan3/global/Region/AU/2xJetStream.html)
This suggest that by 6pm tonight and thru the night, i should be fairly certain of some good seeing ie stable atmosphere

Check the forecast:
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http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDT13400.html
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Rain during the day, but with a minimum of 1, that suggests to me that overnight, there will be no clouds.

So, my scope will go out as soon as the sun sets!!!

I have a cooling system for the mirror, but regardless of that, i am hoping that by midnight, temps have settled enough that my mirror and the air temp are very close if not the same!

I will check my collimation (mirror alignment ) at around 9pm (http://legault.club.fr/collim.html), have a quick look at jupiter to see if that when it is low, is it already quite steady? a quick indicator for later in the night. I will also align my guide scope. It always gets bumped or moved. As I will be attempting to image at 1600x tonight, the slightest bit of misalignment means I won't find jupiter at 1600X!!!. So;

I will start with 25mm eyepiece, line up guide scope with say jupiter or bright star in middle of the cross hairs, move to eyepiece, see if it is in the middle, if not, move the scope so it is in the middle, then straight back to guidescope and adjust. repeat a few times, so that the 25mm is spot on with the guidescope. Repeat with the 5mm eyepiece. This way, I know that when i come out at 2am all rugged up and still asleep, i do not have to fiddle around.

Cover up my guide scope with the caps, cover up my trusty 5mm lv vixen and go to bed. I do not put the cover on the tube of my telscope as I do not want to insulate the air in the tube, I want it to be the same temp as the outside air.

My fans and cooling system will stay on as they help make sure that the mirror is never too far away from the ambient temp.

There is a lot here, but try starting with cooling your scope for 6 hours. If the weather looks promising try for 2am, set the alarm and give it a try.

Sometimes the clouds have rocked in and you feel dissapointed, but other times, with the scope cooled, the conditions are still and the viewing is superb.

I apologize in advance to spouses and partners that wonder what you are still doing at 6am with icicles on your nose and you are still at your scope, but they should understand once you commence continuously babbling for the rest of the day with excitement of what you have seen or imaged.

Early morning viewing / imaging - give it a go!

[vespine]

On the weekends when observing I usually just stay up to 2am, but then again I'm a bachelor with no commitments ;)

Good luck with all of that, thanks for explaining your 'routine' :) I'm still hoping for some cloud free sky, it's been almost 2 weeks since my scope made it out :(

[matt]

I'm in!!!

[BobsYourUncle]

I don't know what the seeing is going to be like here, but i'll probably still have a look.

[EzyStyles]

no go in Melb. rain, hail the works. min 2 degrees in hobart? that is very very cold. Good to see your dedication and comitment davo.

[BobsYourUncle]

I don't know, I like the cold :) I can't wait until the middle of winter, it drops below zero here every now and then. That said, I guess i've never been out in it for hours on end looking at the stars :P

[astroron]

It can get to -7c here at Cambroon observatory and with Frost all around looks like Iceland, with the right clothes on and a dark sky you can have a brilliant night:cold: :cool3: :astron: :cool: :stargaze:

[BobsYourUncle]

Well, I'm out letting the scope cool a bit. Gotta love wireless, and kind next door neighbours (i don't have the best north/south view in my hard). The jet stream is worse than last weekend, but there's no moon yet, so it's beautifully dark.

I've been at a cricket presentation night, had a few free beers, so I should be able spot plenty of double stars ;)

edit: I've got pretty decent Jupiter detail, maybe I'll get to see the GRS for the first time :thumbsup:

[davidpretorius]

ok, ambient is o degrees, mirror is .9 degrees, cold plate is -2, here goes!!!

wheres my pajamas, tracksuit, beanie, jacket, 2 pairs of socks, jumper, gloves.

here comes the michelin man!!!

[asimov]

At this stage, I have an estimated 8.5-9/10. Just taken a test AV to see how many frames pass the 90% optimization.

Good luck to everyone out there imaging Jupiter!!

[davidpretorius]

got better til about 1.15am, processing some now, but excitement in another area, i am sure i have just seen antares little blue brother???

[BobsYourUncle]

Well, I saw the red spot. I'm pretty happy with that, since i wasn't getting the best picture, focus was coming and going (to do with the jet stream i think?). Hope everyone else is having a good night/morning, but it's time for me to go to bed.

[asimov]

" but excitement in another area, i am sure i have just seen antares little blue brother???" << quote by jupiter imager extraordinare..


Your next mission (if you choose to accept) is to image it then dear agent 005mm vixen!!

If I can do it with a kodak easyshare & a refractor, it should be a pretty easy exercise for a man of your talent! :)