How big?
- Gfamily
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How big?
In preparing the slides on "What's Up In December" for our astro club, I mentioned the upcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and included the attached showing the conjunction relative to the size of the full moon.
In looking a bit more at the scale of the orbits of Jupiter's outer moons, I was astonished to find that the diameter of the orbits would cover 3° across the sky - at Jupiter's current position (about the width of Orion's Belt. When at opposition (and therefore at about the closest distance) the outermost moons orbits would cover 5° of the sky - more than the distance between Castor and Pollux.
It surprised me at least.
In looking a bit more at the scale of the orbits of Jupiter's outer moons, I was astonished to find that the diameter of the orbits would cover 3° across the sky - at Jupiter's current position (about the width of Orion's Belt. When at opposition (and therefore at about the closest distance) the outermost moons orbits would cover 5° of the sky - more than the distance between Castor and Pollux.
It surprised me at least.
LS8 Meade SCT, SW 127 Mak, 72mm Lightwave Refractor
Star Adventurer
AZ Gti mount
www.midcheshireastro.co.uk for astro company
Star Adventurer
AZ Gti mount
www.midcheshireastro.co.uk for astro company
- helicon
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Re: How big?
Definitely surprising!
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
- Gfamily
- Saturn Ambassador
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- Posts: 315
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 12:47 pm
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Re: How big?
And as of today, Pasiphae (one of the outer moons) is further from Jupiter than Saturn is.
LS8 Meade SCT, SW 127 Mak, 72mm Lightwave Refractor
Star Adventurer
AZ Gti mount
www.midcheshireastro.co.uk for astro company
Star Adventurer
AZ Gti mount
www.midcheshireastro.co.uk for astro company
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