I saw Jupiter

[Kaito]

So, for the first time EVER, I saw Jupiter through a "telescope" (Technically, it was a spotting scope). It was so awesome. A couple days ago, my dad went to an observatory, and he said that this was pretty much the same as that.

I saw 5 of its moons, and its stripes too. It was so freaking COOL!

 

[PaulG]

Congrats! What type of scope? Have you seen Saturn yet? If not, you'll be in for a treat!

So, for the first time EVER, I saw Jupiter through a "telescope" (Technically, it was a spotting scope). It was so awesome. A couple days ago, my dad went to an observatory, and he said that this was pretty much the same as that.

I saw 5 of its moons, and its stripes too. It was so freaking COOL!

 

[Andy44]

I had seen Jupiter and some of its moons many times through binoculars, but the first time I looked through a good telescope and saw bands of clouds was a real thrill, and that was when the comet was crashing into it!

Another dark night I was just pointing the scope at different stuff in the sky and I spotted a star that seemed out of focus. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to resolve to a point of light. It seemed oval-shaped. Finally I switched to a higher mag eyepiece, and lo and behold! I had "discovered" Saturn and its rings! My dad and I were pretty happy that night, that was a good time.

 

[Kaito]

It wasn't a "Scope", per say, but a spotting scope (used for long range shooting).

I haven't seen Saturn, yet. Were planning on taking my SMALL and OLD telescope (Tasco brand) out tomorrow and look at Jupiter and Hopefully, saturn.

Anyone know where the planets are this time of year? I live In Wisconsin, USA

 

[MajorTom]

It wasn't a "Scope", per say, but a spotting scope (used for long range shooting).

I haven't seen Saturn, yet. Were planning on taking my SMALL and OLD telescope (Tasco brand) out tomorrow and look at Jupiter and Hopefully, saturn.

Anyone know where the planets are this time of year? I live In Wisconsin, USA

I always turn to good old Sky & Telescope. This link should help:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance

MajorTom (formerly of Wisconsin)

 

[Andy44]

Or you can use Orbiter: Place a landed DG at your current lat and lon using the scenario editor, and set it to the current time or the time you plan to be looking (GMT). Then hit the F9 key and look around.

 

[tblaxland]

Anyone know where the planets are this time of year? I live In Wisconsin, USA

A good online reference site:
http://www.heavens-above.com/

And for offline:
http://www.stellarium.org/

 

[Quick_Nick]

So, for the first time EVER, I saw Jupiter through a "telescope" (Technically, it was a spotting scope). It was so awesome. A couple days ago, my dad went to an observatory, and he said that this was pretty much the same as that.

I saw 5 of its moons, and its stripes too. It was so freaking COOL!

FIVE moons?! Are you one of them wasn't a star?
Congratulations on your sighting. It's always more fun and amazing to see the planets yourself (especially Saturn ) rather than just looking at fancy images from NASA.

 

[RisingFury]

FIVE moons?! Are you one of them wasn't a star?

Ganymede, Calisto and Io are all bigger then our moon, Europa is just slightly smaller. In addition to that, you can see a few more slightly smaller moons of Jupiter's many... many moons.

People go crazy when it's full Moon, just imagine how crazy they'd go if we had more Moons

 

[agentgonzo]

Ganymede, Calisto and Io are all bigger then our moon, Europa is just slightly smaller. In addition to that, you can see a few more slightly smaller moons of Jupiter's many... many moons.

Not with a spotting scope you won't. Himalia is Jupiter's fifth brightest moon and that's down at magnitude 15, way beyond the reaches of spotting scopes. You'll probably need a 12" scope at least and inky black skies to see it.

The OP will have seen the 4 Galilean satellites (as mentioned above). The 'fifth' moon that s/he saw will have been HP 93649 A, a 6th magnitude star in Sagittarius.

 

[Kaito]

The spotting scope i had was used at 60x power.
Tho, i'm not sure what the power of my telescope is...but its bigger

 

[agentgonzo]

You still won't be able to see any other than the 4 galilean moons. Magnification will tell you how much larger items will appear through the eyepiece. Magnification can also be changed by using different eyepieces. To see dimmer objects, you need a larger aperture (diameter of the end of the telescope you don't stick your eye to) in order to gather more light. No matter what magnification you use, you won't be able to see any more than 4 moons of Jupiter unless you have a really big telescope (12 inches diameter or more)

 

[astrosammy]

Jupiter was the first object I saw in my new scope (http://www.astroshop.de/teleskope/s...pe--reflektoren-/skywatcher-150-1200mm-eq-3-2). I saw the four galilean moons and a few details of the clouds. I plan to buy some new eyepieces so that I can see it bigger. Tomorrow in the early morning I'll try to get Saturn. (BTW I think someone should move this thread into the astronomy forum)

 

[TSPenguin]

Thread moved, redirect left for one day.
Also congratulations on your experience!

 

[PaulG]

I strongly recommend the following sites.

http://www.calsky.com A calendar of all events
http://www.cleardarksky.com/ Tells you the best time to go outside in your area
http://www.spaceweather.com Just look at the name

It wasn't a "Scope", per say, but a spotting scope (used for long range shooting).

I haven't seen Saturn, yet. Were planning on taking my SMALL and OLD telescope (Tasco brand) out tomorrow and look at Jupiter and Hopefully, saturn.

Anyone know where the planets are this time of year? I live In Wisconsin, USA

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Saturn shouldn't be too hard to find. I first found Saturn by accident way back when I randomly pointed my poor quality optics 6 inch telescope at what I thought was a yellowish star and what I saw was a fuzzy looking ball with black spots on two sides, And funny enough, I didn't realise it was Saturn until I showed someone who told me.

 

[Lunar_Lander]

I found out that Jupiter would appear in the Southern Sky by Stellarium and I pointed my telescope on it. I was able to see the could bands and three very small but sharply defined points of light, two to the left of the planet and one to the right. I assume that to the left were Io and Europa and to the right Callisto.

More magnification wasn't possible, because it is a telescope I once got for a birthday. You know what that means: Low-Quality optics, a bad stand and almost non-existing accurate pointing. Maybe it would be cool to visit an observatory.

 

[Dr Pepper]

I just saw Jupiter for the first time ever (through a telescope, that is) last night through my very old (and now repaired) 60mm Celestron refractor (using a 10mm lens with a 2x Barlow). I nearly froze to death in the process, wearing only a t-shirt and shorts in some 40 degree (F) weather, but it was worth it. I could make out the four moons, three on the left side and one on the right, but Jupiter itself came in only as a bright cream-colored disc with some very pale features on it.

This is slightly off topic, but for some reason I could not make out any of the constellations last night (not even the little or big dipper). I was trying to find some sort of reference point so I find some deep-space objects, but I had no luck...

 

[astrosammy]

I'm having no luck with Saturn, if I get out of bed early enough the weather is bad, and when the weather is good I always get out of bed to late. But I was able to take a photo of Jupiter last week, I'll upload it.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Hmm, just saw my first Iridium flare about an hour ago. It is weird seeing it suddenly appear, shine for about 8 seconds, then fade back out.