I was awed by the beauty of jupiter again last night. It and 4 of its moons were sparkling jewels in a clear sky. I am so glad I have a telescope 
Space and Astronomy Thread
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Aha... found it. OK guys, will be looking for some good tips for things to observe in the future. Caught the ISS last night and will try again tonight. Also note from my trusty StarCalc application that Jupiter (with Neptune in near allignment), Mars & Venus will all be visible by around 12.15 tonight. May also try to find Uranus although I suspect my chances are slim.
Speaking of Jupiter Ricardo, there are reports of a Impact from a comet/asteroid in the polar regions:
http://jupiter.samba.org/jupiter-impact.html
http://jupiter.samba.org/jupiter-impact.html
40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today, I still remember that as a 7 year old looking up at the moon on the morning of the 21st and being amazed that there were two men up there, fantastic days.
Originally Posted by tiger2000:
“40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today, I still remember that as a 7 year old looking up at the moon on the morning of the 21st and being amazed that there were two men up there, fantastic days.”
“40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today, I still remember that as a 7 year old looking up at the moon on the morning of the 21st and being amazed that there were two men up there, fantastic days.”
3 men.......
Originally Posted by BeethovensPiano:
“Speaking of Jupiter Ricardo, there are reports of a Impact from a comet/asteroid in the polar regions:
http://jupiter.samba.org/jupiter-impact.html”
“Speaking of Jupiter Ricardo, there are reports of a Impact from a comet/asteroid in the polar regions:
http://jupiter.samba.org/jupiter-impact.html”
Interesting! Reminds me of Shoemaker-Levy.
Originally Posted by tiger2000:
“40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today, I still remember that as a 7 year old looking up at the moon on the morning of the 21st and being amazed that there were two men up there, fantastic days.”
“40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing today, I still remember that as a 7 year old looking up at the moon on the morning of the 21st and being amazed that there were two men up there, fantastic days.”
Just as a matter of interest do you remember what the phase was?
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“3 men.......”
“3 men.......”
That poor Collins bloke. All that way and folks forget he was there.
One thing I quite like doing is taking quite long exposures of the sky on my digital camera when its clear. Its a bit sad I know, but you can see so much more. When I get the time/patience/clear weather I will try some star trails.
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“Interesting! Reminds me of Shoemaker-Levy.”
“Interesting! Reminds me of Shoemaker-Levy.”
The impact has been confirmed.
Originally Posted by BeethovensPiano:
“The impact has been confirmed.”
“The impact has been confirmed.”
We're lucky that the Jovian planets are there to soak up that kinda thing.
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“We're lucky that the Jovian planets are there to soak up that kinda thing.”
“We're lucky that the Jovian planets are there to soak up that kinda thing.”
And its an amazing coincidence that its 15 years ago this week since the SL9 impacts.
Has anyone been looking at Jupiter in the sky recently? it's been so bright and so easy to view. Absolutely beautiful.
This is the first image from the newly installed WFC3 showing the impact on Jupiter
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/i...c-full_jpg.jpg
More Images
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/i...c-full_jpg.jpg
More Images
Quote:
“July 24, 2009: NASA scientists have interrupted the checkout and calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. The spot, caused by the impact of a comet or an asteroid, is changing day to day in the planet's cloud tops. The Hubble picture, taken on July 23, is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the impact feature. The observations were made with Hubble's new camera, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). WFC3 is not yet fully calibrated, and while it is possible to obtain celestial images, the camera's full power cannot yet be realized for most observations. The WFC3 can still return meaningful science images that will complement the Jupiter pictures being taken with ground-based telescopes.”
“July 24, 2009: NASA scientists have interrupted the checkout and calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. The spot, caused by the impact of a comet or an asteroid, is changing day to day in the planet's cloud tops. The Hubble picture, taken on July 23, is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the impact feature. The observations were made with Hubble's new camera, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). WFC3 is not yet fully calibrated, and while it is possible to obtain celestial images, the camera's full power cannot yet be realized for most observations. The WFC3 can still return meaningful science images that will complement the Jupiter pictures being taken with ground-based telescopes.”
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“Has anyone been looking at Jupiter in the sky recently? it's been so bright and so easy to view. Absolutely beautiful.”
“Has anyone been looking at Jupiter in the sky recently? it's been so bright and so easy to view. Absolutely beautiful.”
Going to a BBQ tonight and taking my telescope with me to take a look at the BFG. Can't see it from home as the view to the south is obscured up to about 35 degrees. Really looking forward to it - should be a beautiful evening.
Originally Posted by Assa2:
“Going to a BBQ tonight and taking my telescope with me to take a look at the BFG. Can't see it from home as the view to the south is obscured up to about 35 degrees. Really looking forward to it - should be a beautiful evening.”
“Going to a BBQ tonight and taking my telescope with me to take a look at the BFG. Can't see it from home as the view to the south is obscured up to about 35 degrees. Really looking forward to it - should be a beautiful evening.”
Sounds fun, have a great time.
Originally Posted by Assa2:
“Going to a BBQ tonight and taking my telescope with me to take a look at the BFG. Can't see it from home as the view to the south is obscured up to about 35 degrees. Really looking forward to it - should be a beautiful evening.”
“Going to a BBQ tonight and taking my telescope with me to take a look at the BFG. Can't see it from home as the view to the south is obscured up to about 35 degrees. Really looking forward to it - should be a beautiful evening.”
How was it Assa? Dunno about where you are, but by 1AM it so high and bright in the sky, all dominating.
There's a recent ITN news item that also features the latest Hubble telescope pics showing the impact point - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090726/...a-41f21e0.html.
In order to do that amount of damage, it must have been a significant object and it certainly would have wreaked considerable destruction had it hit Earth. I'm actually rather glad that Jupiter and its huge gravitational field is there to act as a mega-Dyson to hoover up all this deadly celestial builder's rubble!
In order to do that amount of damage, it must have been a significant object and it certainly would have wreaked considerable destruction had it hit Earth. I'm actually rather glad that Jupiter and its huge gravitational field is there to act as a mega-Dyson to hoover up all this deadly celestial builder's rubble!
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“How was it Assa? Dunno about where you are, but by 1AM it so high and bright in the sky, all dominating.”
“How was it Assa? Dunno about where you are, but by 1AM it so high and bright in the sky, all dominating.”
A very nice evening. It clouded over about 7pm and didn't look good. Got a bit chilly so we burnt lots of wood in a chimneya (sp.?) then around 10.45 it cleared in the east and lo! there was Jupiter. Very nice view although I think we could only see 3 of the moons. There may have been a 4th quite far off and above the equitorial plane or it may have been a star (even possibly Neptune - will have to check it's position more accurately). Still very nice viewing and the main atmospheric bands were visible. Mars is next on my hit list then I'll think about taking a trip out of town and try to observe some Deep Sky objects (bit too much light pollution where I live in the W Midlands).
Originally Posted by Assa2:
“A very nice evening. It clouded over about 7pm and didn't look good. Got a bit chilly so we burnt lots of wood in a chimneya (sp.?) then around 10.45 it cleared in the east and lo! there was Jupiter. Very nice view although I think we could only see 3 of the moons. There may have been a 4th quite far off and above the equitorial plane or it may have been a star (even possibly Neptune - will have to check it's position more accurately). Still very nice viewing and the main atmospheric bands were visible. Mars is next on my hit list then I'll think about taking a trip out of town and try to observe some Deep Sky objects (bit too much light pollution where I live in the W Midlands).”
“A very nice evening. It clouded over about 7pm and didn't look good. Got a bit chilly so we burnt lots of wood in a chimneya (sp.?) then around 10.45 it cleared in the east and lo! there was Jupiter. Very nice view although I think we could only see 3 of the moons. There may have been a 4th quite far off and above the equitorial plane or it may have been a star (even possibly Neptune - will have to check it's position more accurately). Still very nice viewing and the main atmospheric bands were visible. Mars is next on my hit list then I'll think about taking a trip out of town and try to observe some Deep Sky objects (bit too much light pollution where I live in the W Midlands).”
Light pollution is a bitch. The best view I can get of the night sky is when I'm floating on my back in the pool. But that's not conducive to using the telescope!
We've decided we're gonna drive into the mountains when the next big meteor shower is due.
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“Light pollution is a bitch. The best view I can get of the night sky is when I'm floating on my back in the pool. But that's not conducive to using the telescope!
We've decided we're gonna drive into the mountains when the next big meteor shower is due.”
“Light pollution is a bitch. The best view I can get of the night sky is when I'm floating on my back in the pool. But that's not conducive to using the telescope!
We've decided we're gonna drive into the mountains when the next big meteor shower is due.”
I had 2 increadible experiences being places where light pollution was virtually zero. One was in the Canadian rockies when we drove a few miles out of Banff until a big mountain was between us and the town. Looking up was like looking at another sky entirely. So many stars it was almost impossible to recognise any constellations. The other was on honeymoon in Bali. We had gone into the island away from the coast and were staying at a hotel on the side of a deep gorge. In the evening they only used candles for lighting so if you walked a few dozen yards away from the hotel it was completely dark. I found a recliner in a sheltered part of the grounds, lay back and watched the stars - my only experience of the southern hemisphere sky. Amazing.
I took my wife out into the countryside a few years ago for the Perseids meteor shower when they were particularly good. Saw some great shooting stars, by far the brightest and longest lived I've ever seen, but she got freaked out when a van drove past slowly then stopped 50 yards further down the track (we were in the middle of no where) so we cut it short. She was convinced we were about to be murdered but I'm sure the driver either thought we were having car trouble or was lost and wanted directions! Anway it turned out to be a good thing because I'm pretty sure that's the night she got pregnant with our daughter!
BTW, Ricardodaforce, what's your 'scope like?
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“I've got a Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ. My first telescope.”
“I've got a Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ. My first telescope.”
Nice. I've got a cheap Far-Eastern 6" - does the trick for casual moon & palnet gazing but nothing more serious than that. If I really get the bug again I'll invest in a second hand Meade.
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