Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinderboxsky
Yes, now is definitely the time to focus on Jupiter. Were you able to catch the the double moon transit last weekend?
We had clear skies for the event on Friday evening. Unfortunately, seeing was only 3 out of 5 and transparency 6 out of 7. So, the transiting moons, Io and Europa, were not visible, but the two shadows were quite clear. Plus we had the bonus of a clearly visible GRS transiting at the same time. Quite a sight.
There is another double moon transit this coming Friday 11th (eastern Australia). No GRS unfortunately.
Steve
|
Hi Steve,
I had a great view through my 10" pusher last week, I mostly observed at 231x magnification (13mm t6 in a 2.5 x Barlow). Seeing wasn't great, but I actually could see the first of the 2 moons to emerge from the planet disk for about 30 minutes prior to it emerging from in front of the planet. At first I got over excited thinking maybe I was seeing one of the white spots (those white coloured storms like the GRS), but it was the moon and I stayed with it until after it had crossed the planet edge completely. Very nice to see. Was that Io?
I personally don't mind observing at high magnification. I know the view will be crap for 20-25 out of the 30 seconds before the inevitable dob nudge, but the 5 seconds of clear viewing is soooo worth it!
Anyway, there is cloud about, it won't be perfect tonight but it's a double transit. It's gotta be looked at.
This week I'm going to drag the 14" out. It does the dob nudge on its own and does so far more delicately than I can with the 10" so longer time with good viewing. It would be nice if I could tell it the true fov of my eyepiece so the nudging interval could be stretched out. Oh well, can't have everything.....
A