Jupiter and the Great Red Spot - Great for Kids of all ages!

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BobSikes
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Jupiter and the Great Red Spot - Great for Kids of all ages!

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upiter is rising early now, about 8:00 pm EDT in the southeast. It near opposition so it's big, bright and needs no star chart to find. This is a great object for the kids. It's a nice view in a small scope, or even 10X binoculars, if mounted on a tripod. You can easily see the four large moons for Jupiter and over several nights watch them dance. Even in a 60mm scope you can make out the cloud bands. So grab the kids or grand kids and take a look at the mighty planet this month. Tell us what how it went.

For the challenge, let spot the spot, the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. It huge, several earths would fit in it easily, but not as red as it used to be. Nevertheless when it's near the meridian (middle of the planet) it's a fine sight in an 8" scope and visible in smaller scopes on a good night. Who will be first to spot the spot, and post your observations?
The spot rotates around the planet, so you have to be looking at the right times. There's an excellent webpage at Sky and Telescope to help you identify the times:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... 04091.html

It has a nice calculator that gives you the transit times (when it's located in the middle of the planet) in good old local time (Eastern Daylight Time)

Here's the results for this weekend
Saturday 07/12/2008 @ 09:07 pm
Sunday 07/14/2008 @ 02:54 am

And from that site I've posted the transit times (when it's located in the middle of the planet) all in Universal time, so you have to subtract 4 hours to get local time. Don't forget that 7/13 @ 0107 Universal = 7/12 @2207 EDT. And you won't be able to see the spot in the daytime or when it's not in the sky.

12, 5:16, 15:11; 13, 1:07, 11:03, 20:58; 14, 6:54, 16:49; 15, 2:45, 12:41, 22:36; 16, 8:32, 18:27; 17, 4:23, 14:19; 18, 0:14, 10:10, 20:05; 19, 6:01, 15:57; 20, 1:52, 11:48, 21:43; 21, 7:39, 17:35; 22, 3:30, 13:26, 23:21; 23, 9:17, 19:13; 24, 5:08, 15:04; 25, 0:59, 10:55, 20:51; 26, 6:46, 16:42; 27, 2:38, 12:33, 22:29; 28, 8:24, 18:20; 29, 4:16, 14:11; 30, 0:07, 10:02, 19:58; 31, 5:54, 15:49.
August 1, 1:45, 11:41, 21:36; 2, 7:32, 17:27; 3, 3:23, 13:19, 23:14; 4, 9:10, 19:06; 5, 5:01, 14:57; 6, 0:53, 10:48, 20:44; 7, 6:39, 16:35; 8, 2:31, 12:26, 22:22; 9, 8:18, 18:13;
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