Observation Data
Location: Mansfield, GA (33.4689° N, 83.7353° W)
Date and Time: 2023-11-03, 20:55 EDT
Sky conditions: Seeing – fair, Transparency – Mag 5
Instrument: Celestron C8 SCT @f/10, Aperture 203.3mm, Focal length: 2023
Mount: Advanced VX
Eyepiece: N/A (Imaging)
Reticle Device: N/A
Imaging Equipment: ZWO ASI 224MC, ZWO UV/IR Cut filter
Image type and sensor: CMOS, IMX224 1/3″ sensor
Image capture details: 30s AVI capture, Start capture: 20:55:17 EDT, End capture: 20:55:47 EDT, Exposure: 20ms, Gain: 85, best 20% stacked of 1503 frames
Software: ASICap, ASIVideoStack, Photoshop
Project Objectives
The first thing that comes to a person’s attention when looking at the disk of the great planet Jupiter is the striated clouds of its turbulent atmosphere. Fascinating and compelling, even a modest telescope reveals a good amount of detail but always leaves you yearning for more. Through the years a system of nomenclature has been applied to the alternating dark and light areas called belts and zones, respectively. Coupled with the giant’s fast rate of spin (Jupiter’s bulk rotates once in a little under ten hours) even the casual observer can notice something new. Below is a detailed list of the main cloud bands. Not all are always present all of the time. Jupiter’s dynamics are too complicated for that.
Below is a diagram of the main cloud bands. How many can you see? Make a sketch or image, and label those parts that match the accompanying diagram. Include observation data and impressions. Don’t worry about a lot of detail – Jupiter rotates so rapidly that features may move if you take too long to work on details. Note the East-West direction of your sketch or image.
Impressions
Watching Jupiter’s cloud belts is fascinating. Since the planet can make a full rotation in around 10 hours, there is always something new to see. You can see how fast Jupiter’s rotation is in the 1-hour and 17-minute timelapse animation I made for the Jupiter Satellite Shadow Transit project.
