Jupiter

[Dazza81 (Darren)]

Does anybody have any tips for viewing Jupiter? I've been getting up early the past week or so at Dawn and checking it out, its certainly very impressive. I have an 8" Dob with 9mm lens is this enough to be able to see the red spot / storm?

[Robh (Rob)]

Well, you need Stellarium (free) or an app like SkySafari to tell you when the Great Red Spot is visible (not behind the planet). View the planet when it's as high in the sky as you can get (altitude about 30 degs or more). A magnification of x180 to x200 (6mm EP) would make it easier to see features but you need pretty good seeing conditions. Shadow transits of Jupiters moons are always interesting to watch out for.

Regards, Rob

[chiaroscuro (Luke)]

Originally Posted by Dazza81

Does anybody have any tips for viewing Jupiter? I've been getting up early the past week or so at Dawn and checking it out, its certainly very impressive. I have an 8" Dob with 9mm lens is this enough to be able to see the red spot / storm?

I'm no expert, but I think the main limitations for seeing the detail of jupiter is the seeing (atmospheric turbulence) which is worst when viewing objects low in the sky, the light pollution (a fair bit in Kirrawee), and the transparency (how much dust & water vapour are in the atmosphere). But I've seen the GRS with an 8mm eyepiece in my 120mm refractor on a good night, so you should if the conditions are good.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi Darren,

Rob mentions the timing of when the GRS is visible. Yes, I agree with Rob that a program like Stellarium helps in determining when the GRS is visible. Or you can just roll the dice and have a ping whenever you can get your scope out. You have a 50/50 chance any time. The transit of the moon's shadows are very spectacular too. And the skirt across the disk quite quickly too. Again, Stellarium can help determine when a transit will happen, and of which of the Jovian moons.

Observing tips: Your 9mm eyepiece should be able to show you the GRS. The only hinderance will be atmospheric turbulance, which is always greatest close to the horizon, but at the 133X your 9mm will give you, it won't be too bad (can vary though). Light pollution is not a problem with the Moon or planets. They are all bright enough to view comfortably from inner Sydney! I pretty much limit all my observing and sketching from home to the Moon and planets for this reason. Uranus is easy to spot in binos from Sydney, and Neptune too, but more of a challenge and best in a scope.

The only thing about the GRS is that it is not as prominent as it used to be. Its famous cherry red colour has paled to a salmon pink, making it more of a challenge to pick out from the glare of the disk. Take your time with it as it won't stick out as you might expect. Colour filters can help spot it, along with different cloud features of the Jovian atmosphere. But before you go rushing out to buy any filters, be aware that you will use them rarely, and you are best to get just two or three. Which coloured filters? Up to you - sorry if it seems like a cop out, but you need to read up on them first and determine what best suits you. Remember, these coloured filters I'm talking about are not the various nebula filters, which you will use more frequently, and can also be used with the planets.

Here is a very good site to inform yourself about filters, colour and nebula, and what they are best suited for:

Lumicon nebula and colour filters

Happy hunting,

Mental.

[Curt]

Hi Darren.

I find observing Jupiter the best in the early evening or dawn. The cloud bands seem to pop out a little more with the extra light. A #81a filter works great on Jupiter. I tend to use a moon filter as well sometimes as it can be very bright. I swap between both filters and no filters to try to tease out any detail.

Cheers Curt.

[Dazza81 (Darren)]

Cheers guys for the tips. I got up early this morning and had a good look, i couldn't see the red spot but maybe I need to get one of those apps to tell me when its visible plus some sort of filter to make it clearer as well. Being new to all this I'm still learning that all these things are needed

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by Dazza81

I got up early this morning and had a good look, i couldn't see the red spot but maybe I need to get one of those apps to tell me when its visible plus some sort of filter to make it clearer as well.

There was a transit of the Red Spot this morning at about 4:00 am Brisbane time (about 5:00 am in the southern states), so it should have been visible if you knew where to look, and what to look for.

If you have an Android or iOS device, there are any number of free and cheap apps that will give you the transits of the moons and Great Red Spot of Jupiter, along with a vast amount of other useful observational data. I use SkySafari 4 Plus (available on both Android and iOS) - highly recommended! - but Night Sky Tools is another handy mobile app for Android. (SkySafari Plus will actually show you the GRS in real-time as it moves across the face of Jupiter, so you even know which quadrant to look in - but remember to allow for the mirroring effect of your telescope compared to the naked-eye / binocular orientation!)

[ZeroID (Brent)]

There is an application that does that for you.
http://www.astro.shoregalaxy.com/jupsat-pro.htm

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

I use the app 'Gas Giants' very easy to use and helps to identify moons.

[PSALM19.1 (Shaun)]

Hi! I've attached a photo of Jupiter my daughter took with an I-phone 5 through my 8" Dob and even through that the GRS is just visible (of course it was MUCH clearer with naked eye and I think I used a filter that night - forgive me, can't remember which!)...enjoy!