What happened last night?

[BC]

Were people out viewing last night? Was the seeing incredibly good? Either it was fantastic, or my adjustments are starting to pay off. I saw the phase of Venus for the first time. Jupiter was the sharpest I've ever seen (+ 5 moons). Since the sky was pretty washed out, I thought I'd do a bit of moon study. I just wish I had the Barlow already, the level of detail inside craters was astounding (read WOW factor) . I have been doing a major job on the scope, after getting over the fact that the 'B' shop set it up, hence reluctant to dabble. The secondary was very tight and the holder needed heaps of sanding. The primary was pinched by the 3 clamps. I went a step further yesterday and started on the spider. There was no offset away from the focuser but there was offset on the other, side-to-side arms, hmmmm. I tweaked all these. It's also obvious that the focuser is not square to the tube, which I realise is the place I really should start. BTW, last nights astounding views were after I adjusted the spider arms and didn't even recollimate because I was busy trying to make a sight tube. I either fluked it incredibly, or the seeing was incredibly good.

[iceman (Mike)]

The seeing was very good, the jetstream map showed no jetstream over the lower east coast of Australia.. any time there's no jetstream, the seeing will be much better than normal.

Glad to hear you got some great views and that the mods are working for you.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Great stuff BC !

It seems you are now getting the performance you are paying for
All it takes is the courage to strip down the scope to check.

This story should hopefully encourage others to follow through the howto

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by iceman

The seeing was very good, the jetstream map showed no jetstream over the lower east coast of Australia.. any time there's no jetstream, the seeing will be much better than normal.

I wish that happened during dark skies!

[ving (David)]

damn, and i was watching rove.

[astroron (Ron)]

+5 moons ?

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by astroron

+5 moons ?

maybe it might have been a faint star in the field? Might have to post exact time and viewing location to work that one out?

note:
PLANET MOONS MOON NAMES
Mercury 0
Venus 0
Earth 1 Moon
Mars 2 Phobos, Deimos
Jupiter 62 Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Amalthea, Himalia, Elara, Pasiphae, Sinope, Lysithea, Carme, Ananke, Leda, Metis, Adrastea, Thebe, Callirrhoe, Themisto, Kalyke, Iocaste, Erinome, Harpalyke, Isonoe, Praxidike, Megaclite, Taygete, Chaldene, Autonoe, Thyone, Hermippe, Eurydome, Sponde, Pasithee, Euanthe, Kale, Orthosie, Euporie, Aitne, plus others yet to receive names
Saturn 33 Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas, Hyperion, Prometheus, Pandora, Phoebe, Janus, Epimetheus, Helene, Telesto, Calypso, Atlas, Pan, Ymir, Paaliaq, Siarnaq, Tarvos, Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Thrym, Skadi, Mundilfari, Erriapo, Albiorix, Suttung, plus others yet to receive names
Uranus 27 Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo, plus others yet to receive names
Neptune 13 Triton, Nereid, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, plus others yet to receive names
Pluto 1 Charon
TOTAL 139

[ving (David)]

I once thought i spotted Amalthea or Himalia once. it turned out to be more likely a star tho. on a good night there are a few stars that can pop into the FOV.
I am not saying it wasnt another moon of course.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Easy enough to find out.
Take a pic or do a drawing of the locations of the supposed moons. Then wait 15 minutes and do it again. Then again another 15 minutes later. You should notice a change in orbit of the moons in this time. If not, give it another 1 or 2 goes at 15 mins apart and compare with the first one. No orbital change? It's a star. Orbital change? It's a moon.

[astroron (Ron)]

After the four large Galilean Moons of Jupiter the next brightest moon is Amalthea size 270x170x150kms and 14.1mag is beyond the range of most backyard scopes as it is so close to the planet as to be overwhelmed by it,
the next brightest is 16thmag Thebe, so unless you are using a very big scope or maybe CCD imaging what you observed was not a moon of Jupiter.astroron

[astroron (Ron)]

Himalia at 180kms in diameter and mag 14.7 is a bit of an ask, but then I don't know what size of scopes BC or Ving are using for their observations. astroron

[BC]

Hey, I'm new to this......so it was 4 moons and a faint star, those little white dots all look the same.............just kidding, I know they don't