A Challenge for April

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Apollo XX
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A Challenge for April

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Howdy Folks,

It's finally starting to warm up a little, and maybe your snow has melted to the point where you can get to your scopes. I've got an interesting little challenge for you, and if you take it up I think you'll like what you see.

Have you ever seen Jupiter in the blue sky of broad daylight? If you haven't then you're in for an interesting experience. My suggestion is to start about 15 minutes before sunset, and use every tool at your disposal to help you find the king of the planets. You'll probably be surprised by what you can see - I know I have been. First of all the equatorial bands and the temperate zones look completely different through the blue of our atmosphere, much as though it would if you had a filter installed while viewing at night. To me there seems to be more contrast, and I seem to be able to discern more detail in those regions. Second, you can actually see the Galilean moons after you been looking for awhile. We're talking mag5+ in a daylight sky! I've even seen a moon shadow transit under those exact conditions.

Try to pick one of those afternoons where you look up and say "wow, that's a crystal clear sky", then grab a scope and give it a whirl. Consult your planetarium program for Jupiter's location, and have at it. If you've got alt/az setting circles then you're hallway there - just set the altitude and search in the azimuth. If you've got an equatorially aligned mount, you're golden. If you've got nothing you can try searching the general vicinity with binos and then going back there with a scope. What ever you need to do, I think you'll find it worth the effort.

Now go forth and conquer!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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