Jupiter viewing

irishgeo

i read somewhere that Jupiter will be viewable in irish skies with binoculars and you should be able to see the moons. i was wondering if there is any proper telescopes viewing around mayo where i could along for a proper look.

astronomery ireland used to run a few but i dont see anything liek that now.

i am in castlebar. is it viewable over these few weeks. of the clouds stay away i have perfect viewing conditions in achill tomorrow night.

any tips for finding it with binoculars?

username123

Get yourself Stellarium (free) or similar and you will be able to see exactly where it is in the sky.

I just went out and had a look there, great view, it's south, to the left and above Orion's left shoulder (Betelgeuse) which is a very orange glow.

I couldn't see the moons, and because it's so high it was hard to get a steady view thru the binos, I must have a look much earlier tomorrow night.

shedweller

Its up to the left of orion at the moment and is quite high up so seeing will be very good.
If you have a tripod you should try mount the binos on it. There are brackets available but if you are handy with the tools you could make one in a few minutes. L shaped bracket with a 1/4" bsw threaded hole on one leg and about a 6 or 7mm hole in the other end to put a 1/4" bsw bolt through to the mounting point on the binos. Thats under a cap on the opposite end of where your nose fits when looking through the binos.
Thats yer hardware sorted then! More expertly gven advice from others will no doubt follow !!

irishgeo

shedweller wrote: »

Its up to the left of orion at the moment and is quite high up so seeing will be very good.
If you have a tripod you should try mount the binos on it. There are brackets available but if you are handy with the tools you could make one in a few minutes. L shaped bracket with a 1/4" bsw threaded hole on one leg and about a 6 or 7mm hole in the other end to put a 1/4" bsw bolt through to the mounting point on the binos. Thats under a cap on the opposite end of where your nose fits when looking through the binos.
Thats yer hardware sorted then! More expertly gven advice from others will no doubt follow !!

The showers will die out on Saturday night and it will become dry with clear spells. A severe ground frost will develop overnight along with fog patches. It'll be coldest in the north of the country where temperatures will fall to as low as minus 3 degrees, further south temperatures will linger between 3 and 4 degrees. Winds will be light westerly, backing southerly later.

looks like clear spells anyway. should be good viewing. what range of binos should i be looking at

shedweller

irishgeo wrote: »

looks like clear spells anyway. should be good viewing. what range of binos should i be looking at

I have a pair of celestron 25×70 and they bring out jupiters moons ok. I can almost see the banding on jupiter itself but its very veeery faint.

ankaragucu

I had a look last night through my 15*75 binoculars and could see Jupiters moons.They look like stars very close to the planet.Jupiter is pretty easy to spot at this time, looking E-SE around 9-10pm.It looks like a big white star high in the sky.

Zubeneschamali

ankaragucu wrote: »

I had a look last night through my 15*75 binoculars and could see Jupiters moons.They look like stars very close to the planet.

You can tell they aren't stars by making a sketch, and then looking again another night: they'll have moved. The orbital period ranges from 1.75 to 16.7 days, so they move visibly from night to night.

yeppydeppy

Install the night sky lite on your phone and it'll tell you what you're looking at - good app for finding your way around the night sky.

ankaragucu

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

You can tell they aren't stars by making a sketch, and then looking again another night: they'll have moved. The orbital period ranges from 1.75 to 16.7 days, so they move visibly from night to night.

Yes Zube I realised that!I'm just a beginner but did notice that on different nights over the last month or so the moons were in different positions.The binoculars are great in many ways but I already know I'll be craving more detail in the not too distant future.Will 15×75 binos show me the rings around Saturn?I'm guessing not!

Zubeneschamali

ankaragucu wrote: »

Will 15×75 binos show me the rings around Saturn?I'm guessing not!

With 15s, you'll be able to tell that Saturn is not a disc, but you won't see nice rings. I think Galileo's telescope was good for 8 or 10 magnifications, and he could see that there was something odd, but thought initially it was two big moons, one either side, and later (with the rings edge on) he thought they had disappeared.

Here are some early sketchs of the "phases" of Saturn: