jupiter question

ving (David) · #1 07-03-2005, 01:17 PM

just what sort of aperture and seeing conditions do you need to see other moons?

on saturday night when i saw jupiter there was 2 moons either side of jupiter (the usual suspects) and just to the right of the outer moon on the right hand side was a very faint speck on the same plain (if you know what i mean)...
coul,d have been a star (actually most likely) but I just wanna find out.

beren · #2 07-03-2005, 01:23 PM

have you got Cartes du ceil {or any other planteruim software }, plug in the time etc and zoom in and see

iceman (Mike) · #3 07-03-2005, 01:24 PM

Jupiter has like 63 moons, but I thought they were all too faint except for the main 4..

ving (David) · #4 07-03-2005, 01:25 PM

well yeah but not here at work... I forgot to look at home

guess i could wait till i get home.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #5 07-03-2005, 01:31 PM

David,

According to the egg-spurts, you can only see the 4 Galilean Moons through amatuer scopes. You need something about 2 metres to see any more and even then it's supposed to be hard.

That's what they say anyway.

Maybe 2 of the moons were behind Jupiter when you looked. It happens!

Your scope should pick out the 4 Galileans easy even in massive light pollution.

Dick Smith 4.5" scopes can do it.

Striker (Tony) · #6 07-03-2005, 01:32 PM

What you have a public holiday for Ving's birthday...nice

ving (David) · #7 07-03-2005, 01:43 PM

my birthday should be a PH!

ken, yeah i have seen the 4 main moons often but I am wondering if maybe I saw another fifth one on sat night...

maybe Amalthea or Himalia

ving (David) · #8 07-03-2005, 01:46 PM

himalias magnitude is 14.84 according to this site
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/himalia.htm

MiG · #9 07-03-2005, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ballaratdragons
David,
Your scope should pick out the 4 Galileans easy even in massive light pollution.

Dick Smith 4.5" scopes can do it.

My 10x50 binoculars can do it too. Though I can't remember whether there were four or less.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #10 07-03-2005, 01:47 PM

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you could only see 2 Galileans.

Silly Me!

ving (David) · #11 07-03-2005, 01:52 PM

lol, dont worry bout it ken...

well it wasnt Amalthea as thats much too close to jupiter.

still dont know if it was himalia or a star tho. I'd be really stoked if it was himalia!

it was first spotted in 1904 and I would hope that our instruments are better now !

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #12 07-03-2005, 01:58 PM

It shows that timing is important when posting. Here is a funny example from above:

Mike: <i>Jupiter has like 63 moons, but I thought they were all too faint except for the main 4..</i>

Ving: <i>well yeah but not here at work... I forgot to look at home</i>

lol

ving (David) · #13 07-03-2005, 02:13 PM

well maybe i can see them all from here ken

gunna have a look at cartes when i get home

ving (David) · #14 07-03-2005, 08:31 PM

ok checked out cartes du ciel from home. it shows no stars in ther area where I was looking. I am thinking that it was the moon himalia...

below is a representation of what i saw... the extra object was really faint.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #15 07-03-2005, 08:50 PM

That would be cool if it is Himalia.

I wanna see it too! Next time there are no clouds I'll have a look.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #16 07-03-2005, 09:07 PM

Hey ving I saw that on Saturday night too and thought it was a star that happened to be inline. That would be toooooo cool if it was another moon. I was only using my 8" meade so maybe it was a star. I'll check the Autostar suite and get back to you. It has a lot more stars in it than Cartes (The hubble guide stars)

[1ponders] (Paul) · #17 07-03-2005, 09:14 PM

It looks like there was a star in the vicinity - HGS49630341,341 - but its mag was 14.58 and the object I saw was deffinately brighter than that. besides I don't think I can see that faint a star with my scope.

I'll keep looking

[1ponders] (Paul) · #18 07-03-2005, 09:29 PM

Ok there was another one (and this one looks like its more on the right plane) - HGS 4963056,356 - mag 10.25 and 0 deg 03' 32" away from Jupiter.............

Ok I've just compared Autostar and Cartes with the ecliptic showing, and lined up the moons with the ecliptic and it looks at this stage that it might be this star as it was parallel with the ecliptic when lined up with Jupiter and the moons.

Sorry ving.

rumples riot · #19 07-03-2005, 11:09 PM

I don't think that you can see any other moons aside from the big 4. I have nver seen any other moons with my scope, I do spend a lot of time on Jupiter. And would have to agree you would need a big scope to see them. What about you guys with the bigger scopes ever seen any other moons.

RAJAH235 · #20 08-03-2005, 01:21 AM

Why not take note of the time you first saw it and come back say in 30 mins/1 hr/2 hrs to see if it moved along the plane?