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ATM Another optics test - Jupiter's moons
Saturday night I had the chance to show my 4.25 inch f/11 optics at
the local astro club meeting. We observed with this scope a transit
of (I think) Ganymede across the face of Jupiter. This took place
Sat. night in Louisiana, but that's about 0100-0330GMT, 17 Aug.
It was easy to see the shadow on Jupiter, but I was also surprised at
how easy it was to see Ganymede on the face of the planet too!
Here's the question: As a way to evaluate optics/observers/seeing
conditions, are all the gallilean satellites equally easy/hard to see
transiting the face of Jupiter? If not, which ones are easier than
others? What's the smallest scope aperture you would need to see a
moon against the backdrop of Jupiter?
No, this is not a quantitative test, but we do make telescopes for
observing. . .don't we? ;-)
Tom Krajci
Capt Tom Krajci
B-52 Intelligence Officer
"In God we trust, all others we monitor!"
http://spur.barksdale.af.mil