Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Jupiter Apparition 2013-2014 - First Light

With a forecast by the Clear Sky Clock for clear and steady skies for this morning, plus an infrequent Callisto shadow transit on tap, I set the scope out before going to bed last night so it would be at ambient temperature. I turned over around 5 a.m. and debated whether to sleep or observe - the observing urge won out.


The skies were steady, probably a 7/10 - with some scattered thin clouds. Jupiter stood pretty high in Gemini, certainly above 25 degrees off the eastern horizon. Hauling out the video equipment I leveraged the nearby last quarter moon for refining my focus, then swung over to Jupiter. The videography started in earnest at about 5:35 EDT and ran for about 15 minutes (have to get ready for work!)



This evening I processed the files and a couple of them were pretty decent, the one here is one of the better results. (I am always amazed at what the planetary astrovideography process can accomplish with even a small scope like mine). Callisto, outermost of the 4 major satellites, is just now beginning to cast its shadow onto the Jovian disk when it cuts in front of the planet. Due to the planet's inclination and Callisto's distance it is only around the time when Jupiter's orbital plane crosses Earth that we see this (we also begin to see "mutual" satellite events where the satellites cross in front of one another. So for the next couple of years we get to see some of the less common Galilean satellite phenomena, such as this Callisto shadow transit.


Jupiter - what a fascinating target!



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