Location: Anza desert,
Equipment: Stellarvue SV102 F7 ED doublet on
Recent post from Marshall (Makuser) on the sky events in June made me think. It has been at least a couple of years since I saw a double shadow transit on Jupiter and one predicted for dawn on June 4 seemed doable. Therefore, I drove after work on Wednesday to the Anza site, set the scope, watched moonrise and sunset and hit the sleeping bag.
Thought would sleep until 1 am but woke up around 11:30. The desert was beautiful under near full Moon, and it was warmer and dryer than last weekend. With Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila climbing up and the Scorpio hook in the south it finally felt like summer.
Jupiter and Saturn were just clearing the skyline, but as turned out waking up earlier was a good move because my
. Asteroids
01:00. The planets were still too low. I looked for other targets and found 3 new to me asteroids:
(85) Io – asteroid in Oph, size: 171 km, type: C, mag 10.9. SLV 9mm (79x).
(56) Melete – asteroid in
(100) Hekate – asteroid in Oph, size 89, type: S, mag 11.3. SLV 9mm (79x).
I barely managed to resolve Hekate. The rest of available asteroids were too faint for the scope with bright moon around.
01:24. Took my first look of the season of Jupiter and Saturn. They were still low, and the views were fuzzy. Saturn was smaller than last year with rings less exposed.
While waiting for the planets to climb I went to split a few doubles.
Doubles in Scutum
STF 2313 – 7.5, 8.7, 5.9”, yellow, silver. SLV 6mm (119x).
STF 2325 – 5.8, 9.3, 12.4”, cream, blue. SLV 6mm (119x).
STF 2373 – 7.4, 8.4, 4.2”, pale yellow, bluish. SLV 6mm (119x).
Two beautiful pairs in the same
ST 2391 AB – 6.5, 9.6, 38”, white, blue. SLV 25mm (29x).
H 6 50 AC – 6.2, 8.2, 111”, copper, white. SLV 25mm (29x).
M11 – Wild Duck Open Cluster – unresolved glow in SLV 25mm (29x) and 15mm (48x). SLV 6mm (119x) – darker view but the patch is resolved into individual stars.
STF 2388 – 7.8, 10.9, 11.2, ab53.8”, bc 21.4”. Pair of faint grayish stars some distance from bright white main. SLV 6mm (119x).
STF 2405 (BU 1465) – 8.0, 11.4, 10.8, ab 13.7”, ac 25.2”. C – faint silvery star apart from bright white main. B – very faint gray dot with averted vision on the opposite side from C. SLV 2.5mm (286x).
03:00. Jupiter – view is getting better. Separations and festoons resolved in North Equatorial and South Equatorial belts; North and South Polar Regions and South Temperate belts well defined. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
Saturn – better view with hints of Cassini. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
Mars – small disk with heavy prismatic colors, no details. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
03:33 Jupiter, Ganymede shadow transit started but it took about 10 minutes for the shadow to became visible on the disk edge. Europa and and Ganymede close to each other approaching Jupiter disk. Ganymede clearly larger. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
04:02 Mars – finally! Small but sharp orange disk with gibbous phase well defined and large triangular dark shape of Mare Sirenum slightly below the middle. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
04:06 Saturn – best view of the night. Cassini division visible all around and North Equatorial Belt and North Polar Region Resolved. SLV 5mm (143x) with Baader filters combo (Contrast Booster + Moon and Skyglow filters).
04:21 Jupiter. Europa shadow transit started, and the waiting game begins.
04:30. Bright meteor. Dawn approaching, the sky is getting brighter.
04:42. Moonset - large salmon colored disk sliding down. Sky turning blue, stars disappearing. Still no sighting of Europa shadow. Predawn air flow starts. Jupiter disk shimmers. Had to remove the filters to preserve the contrast against brightening sky.
04:49. Finally, smaller grayish disk of Europa shadow appears against North Equatorial Belt, much harder to detect than sharp black shadow of Ganymede against bright North Temperate Zone. Result! SLV 5mm (143x). I kept observing for a couple of minutes to confirm the sighting.
05:00. Catch a couple of hours of sleep before driving home. Workday starts at 09:00.
Below are my doodles of planets. Sorry, I am not Michelangelo by any means.
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