Great Night ViewingTonight I had a very good nights astronomy, starting with my first visual of Jupiter this year.
I have had to wait a long time to see Jupiter this year because its altitude is very low. It has only just come around the back of the houses in the estate. I only get about a half hour to observe before it disappears behind some trees.
I used my baby telescope, the StarTravel 102, with a 25mm eyepiece I can see Jupiter as a bright round object and I can make out the moon. With the 10mm eyepiece, I can see Jupiter a bit more clearly, and identify Ganymede and Io. Finally, with the 10mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow lens, I can see the light ring around the northern hemisphere and just about make out the lower ring. The great red spot was not visible to me today. I could also see Europa and Callisto clearly as well.
After Jupiter had gone behind the trees I turned round to see Arcturus shining brightly. This orange star is magnitude -0.03 and shines brightly in the western skies.
I also observed the International Space Station fly overhead. I even managed to track it with my scope and was amazed to be able to see some faint detail. With a 25mm eyepiece, I believe I saw what looked like a large elongated dot, with two lines on either side. These are the modules with solar panels on either side. I was not able to view the space shuttle Endeavour at that magnification.
Throughout all this, I was joined by a frog (which had a lucky escape), some bats and a hedgehog rummaging around for some food.
Unfortunately, I did not see any of the Perseid's.
