Jump to content
GreaseSpot Cafe

Jupiter, for Tom.


Recommended Posts

Tom: Jupiter is currently in southeastern Leo, headed towards Virgo. It's the brightest object in the eastern sky from the time it rises, which is near local sunset.

If you see a bright object in the west however, that's brilliant Venus, chasing the Sun down into the western horizon. Mark April 2nd on your calendars and get a decent pair of binoculars handy. Venus will pass through the Pleaides, in Taurus, on that night, which will make a lovely sight in even a 7x35 pair of binos. Telescopes have too narrow a field of view to take it all in, but some 10x50s are just perfect for this.

What else would you like to know? icon_smile.gif:)-->

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well... since you turned me onto that NASA site that sends out the update emails... they said something about Jupiter being very close to us... it's supposed to be 'just below' the moon right? the way they had the drawing sized it looked like it would be really big... can it be seen fairly well with binocs? and for how long? it's cloudy here tonight! dangit!

She's the kind of a girl that makes the "News of the World" Yes you could say she was attractively built.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom: Luckily, Jupiter will be a fine sight well into the summer, it just plods along in its 12-year orbit!

Yes, it's an easy binocular target, but the real trick is seeing the four Galilean moons of Jupiter in binocs. That's the fun bit about Jupiter--those four moons zip around the planet so they're in different places every night!

Here's what Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn look like through my telescope (although the Saturn pic is half the scale of the other two--didn't Barlow the camera) If you look closely at the big Jupiter pic, you can see one of the moons to the left, and it's casting a shadow on the lower right of the planet--a Jovian total eclipse! icon_smile.gif:)-->

jms.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Way too cool!! A lot better than my telescope. But I did see a moon of Jupiter.

And the University here has an astronomy club that anybody can join. So we have. Won't have to keep bugging you Zixar. icon_smile.gif:)-->

NOw just have to wait for spring when the night clouds go away. tcat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom: Yes, they do, and yes, it's VERY cool! icon_smile.gif:)-->

The big one is about $3,000, the little one about $500. There are a couple of smaller ETX scopes, a 60 and a 70, but they don't have quite the same pointing capabilities as the 90 and up, and certainly not as good optics as the 90.

The big one is fully automatic. You just point it north, turn it on, and it gets a GPS fix to know its exact position and time, then compensates for uneven ground with tip and tilt sensors.

The small one you have to enter the time and location manually, and it's best to level the tripod or table (or car trunk) first, but otherwise both then slew to two different bright stars, which you center in the eyepiece with the hand controller, the scope calculates for a second, and voila! The scope will then automatically slew to any object or coordinate you punch in on the keypad, and what's more, automatically rotate slowly to keep the scope LOCKED on that object until you decide to look at something else.

The earth rotates, of course, and if the scope doesn't have tracking capabilities, the image tends to slide right across the field of view, faster at higher magnification!

These scopes eliminate that. Extremely cool, and they hold their value well. A good scope is a good investment, and one you can pass down to your kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...