Jupiter

Tuesday night the sky was clear, and by 10.30-ish Jupiter was visible well above the house opposite. I took the telescope out into the front garden, and attached the recently-purchased 5mm eyepiece and lunar filter. The eyepiece gave a more magnified, but still reasonably sharp view of Jupiter, and the eyepiece cut out most of the glare so that details were viewable.

I could see both the main northern and southern 'belts' of cloud, though couldn't quite make out the red spot. Maybe it was round the back or something. Since the view was a higher magnification, the 'cone' of sky was narrower, and so Jupiter was moving quite swiftly. It also meant that the slightest vibration would send the view out of kilter. This brought home to me the importance of having a good, solid mount and nice tight screws!

Another thing that I hadn't fully appreciated was the effect of the atmosphere. You know those images you see in nature programmes and documentaries of the large, red setting Sun wobbling down past the horizon? And it's shimmering in the heat haze? Well, I found that this effect was quite pronounced whilst viewing Jupiter, and that the image would stir, wobble and shift due to peturbations in the atmosphere. It's a bit like viewing something through glycerine.