Posts Made By: Carlos E. Hernandez

Sol,

Another excellent observation of Jupiter showing much detail. You have captured the Great Red Spot (GRS) region very nicely. It is similar to images obtained by other amateurs. The SEB surrounding the GRS is very active. Please keep up the excellent work.

Carlos

Ed,

I am glad to hear that you experienced a fine evening of Jupiter observing last night. Those nights when both the atmosphere and our instruments cooperate are a revelation! One cannot believe the amount of detail visible over a planet like Jupiter at such a time. It would be difficult to depict on paper what would be visible then. I hope that you have many more wonderful nights.

Carlos

Sol,

A beautiful sketch of Saturn showing many interesting features. The "dark splotches" over ring B are interesting and may actually represent segments of radial spokes. The drawing does have a 3D feeling to it as Russel points out. I look forward to your future observations.

Carlos

Sol,

You have captuered a significant amount of detail over the planet. The NEB and SEB are loaded with features (e.g. barges and festoons). The STZ oval is also interesting. The best of luck in future observations.

Carlos

Angel,

I think you made a mistake and labeled the object next to Jupiter Ganymede instead of Mars. This is an outstanding high-resolution image of Ganymede. Please keep up the excellent work.

Carlos

Walter,

Thank you for the compliment on my drawing abilities. Your observations of Jupiter and Saturn show much detail. The poor reputation of most Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes (e.g. Nexstar 8) out there is due to poor collimation. The SCT observer would do well to collimate their instrument at each observing session. The SCT is very easy to misalign.

Please keep up the excellent work.

Carlos

Sol,

A very nice observation of Jupiter showing much detail. You have captured an interesting loop festoon over the EZ towards the preceding limb. The shadow of Ganymede is very interesting as well. Please keep up the excellent work.

Carlos

Ron,

An excellent first sketch of Jupiter. You have placed the belts correctly at their approximate logitudes (difficult for some rookie observers). The intensity of the belts looks adequate as well. You have even managed to depict detail within the Great Red Spot (GRS). An impressive first time effort!

The only thing I would suggest is to try to place the belts parallel to the Jovian equator as they appear tilted in your observation. You may also want to use my Jupiter template located on the Arkansas Sky Observatory web site (http://www.arksky.org/) under the Online Tools section.

We all look forward to your future observations. Thank you for sharing.

Carlos

Vladimir,

Thank you for sharing your Jupiter observation with us. Your description of the Jovian features you observed were very useful. You actually picked up a lot of detail during your observing session. It appears that the high cirrus clouds indicated a smooth air steam flow over your observing site.

The following are my notes on your observaton;
A (North Polar Region (NPR): Normally appears dull (5/10) and under good seeing conditions contains small (white) ovals and dark condensations.
B (North Temperate Zone (NTZ) to North Tropical Zone (NTrZ): Normally contains the thin and, usually, dark belt, the North Temperate Belt (NTB). This apparition only sections of the belt are visible depending upon the longitude presented to the observer.
C (North Equatorial Belt (NEB): A prominent belt which may contain dark barges along it's northern border and blue festoons along the southern border.
D (Equatorial Zone): A bright mid-section of the planet which contains bright ovals as well as dark condensations and festoons.
E and F (South Equatorial Belt, Northern component (SEB-N): Normally a dark and thin component of the larger belt. Festoons do not normally arise from this belt, except when noted in the late 1800's.
G and H (South Equatorial Belt, Southern component): Normally the most prominent belt over the planet. May contain bright segments (rifts) as well as dark condensations (or "clumps", many noted lately along it's southern border).
Great Red Spot (GRS): As you point out not always the infamous red color. This apparition it has darkened a bit to an orange-reddish color as you noted. A dark condensation at it's center may give it the appearance of an "eye looking back."
I (South Temperate Belt (STB): Normally a dark and thin belt which may contain the large bright oval BA.
J and K (South Polar Region (SPR): Normlly a dull region containing thin bright zones and dark belts. Many small bright ovals have been observed over this region during the current apparition.

I hope that these notes help you better understand what you observed. I look forward to more of your observations in the future.

Carlos

Phil,

This may be the best Mars apparition in a very long time. The planet will be above 10 arc-seconds for many months. I hope that we all have many exciting observations of it. The best of luck and happy Mars observing.

Carlos