Jupiter Moon(Pass/Shadow & Occ) Transit Tonight 17/11/09
Nothing new for most of you, BUT, Just in case anyone forgets or is interested, “lo” will begin making a Pass tonight at about 6:30pm with its Shadow following at about 6:42pm. “lo” will exit its Path around 8:40pm with its shadow exiting around 9:45pm. About 38minutes prior to lo’s shadow disappearing, Ganymede should pop out from behind the planet on the opposite side at aprox 9:08pm.
Well this is how I read the predictions on the Jupiter 2 software. The weather got in my way last time. I’m hoping to pull off my first Jupiter Moon Transits tonight…now I just need to set a reminder.
Please let me know how you go if you end up observing it.
Thanks
Dave
i luv seeing this kinda thing. Once saw 2 shadows at once! Thanks for the heads up, but got to go to bed early!, ........as i'm getting up for Lionids metor shower. I plan to be in bed before my kids are!
Arrrggghhhhh...Again the clouds have rolled in. I waited all that time for lo to come around at just the right time! I even set up last night practicing with the different Eps and all deciding what the best way to view this whole thing. I give up if on the next Pass this happens again.
The clouds cleared a little, but there was a lot of Haze. I set up the ED80 on its Alt/Azi A3 mount alongside the 12” Dob. Most of the image through the Dob was molted/Hazing/blurry with a lot of shimmer from the wind which made focusing a little difficult. I tried to master letting Jupiter drift from one side of the eye piece to the other, which I must say I improved upon tonight. Between using such techniques and ever so slightly using the micro adjuster with controlled breathing, I was bitterly disappointed, yet pleased that I was able to get moments of good seeing out of terrible conditions. I probably jumped from several EPs and Barlow off & on…The Barlow really seemed useless with conditions the way they were…I thought at times my ED80 was giving me better results despite the very the small image…I think I may consider a Large Achromatic or even MAK to use for future planetary viewing.
Through the Dob I think I caught a minute glimpse of Lo’s shadow. The Best I could do with Lo itself was wait till it exited to see what appeared to be half the size of the other moons as it crept past the fringe of Jupiter. I did a quick Google to compare the moons sizes, but quit after finding out that Lo orbits at a distance closer than what our moon does to our planet. Are the other moons easier to see when they transit?
Oh well…I’ll keep practicing I guess and maybe on a better night of seeing, I’ll get much better results. Glad I tried anyways. Hope some of you had better luck than I
Jupiter Moon(Pass/Shadow & Occ) Transit Tonight 17/11/09
