It was quite a successful event at Stansbury Park last night despite a last minute band clouds that threatened to cover the triple transit portion of the event. The actual star party was poorly attended (both by public and members) due to the snow and rain in Salt Lake. We viewed the event through the clubs 16" Cassegrain, Patrick's 8" Brandt refractor (w/a binoviewer), Kim Hyatt's 5" Meade refractor & Celestron Ultima, & Siegfried's 8" Clark refractor. Don Colton was also imaging Jupiter using a Phillips ToUcam and Registax. Most people were able to see all three shadows quite easily and Ganymede directly. There were many comments as to how distinct Ganymede appeared against the lighter Jupiter background above the North Equatorial Belt. It took us a while to realize it was not a storm swirl (or even a shadow). Io was the toughest to see sitting itself directly along the NEB. Occasionally the seeing would steady enough to glimpse it's little scallop against the darker band. After the event, several of us headed off to the truck stop for a bite to eat before the drive back home. Dave P.S. Does anyone know if there are ever quadruple shadow transits on Jupiter? On Sunday, March 28, 2004, at 10:45 AM, Michael Carnes wrote:

On the East side of Salt Lake Valley, we had sprinkles all evening with a heavy stretch of rain about 10 PM. I was afraid to put a scope outside to cool down, since there was a strong likelihood of soaking the thing. Gave up about 11, with no indication of clearing ahead. Anybody else have any luck?

Michael

...

Did anybody have good seeing last night? I saw all three shadows of Jupiter's moons but could only use 100-125X due to mediocre seeing. It seemed that seeing was better around 8:30 to 9:00. I saw very clearly the Great Red Spot around 8:45 then went in the house till 12:45. Also tried to split Epsilon Canis Majoris but only saw a spike from the secondary. I need better conditions for this double.

Debbie

The 5 transits were made all the better by two huge festoons. They were so prominent and close together that at first I thought I was seeing the Great Red Spot but then realized they were too far north. But my most memorable part occurred 3 or maybe 4 minutes before the third shadow was about to make its appearance and a huge band of thick clouds just appeared from out of no where and spoiled the view. It was so bad that we actually stared stowing the refractor. We had it in its stowed position and had the dust covers on and the eyepieces removed when I happened to walk outside and look up to see that the cloud bank had vanished and the sky was clear! Those still closing the scope in the refractor bay were surprised when I ran back in exclaiming and pointing at the sky (which they could not see since the interior white lights had been brought up). We got the scope back on line and Jupiter back in view just as the final shadow moved onto Jupiter's cloud tops. Fun experience! Patrick

Joe I'm sure it can be done somehow. I'll have to check it out. Clear Skies Don -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 9:35 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Triple shadow transit I already checked them out. Very cool, Don. Is it possible to stack the images into some kind of animation so we can watch the motion? Best wishes, Joe _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com