Obs. Rep. 5/28/2009 4:15-4:30am, 5:00am MDT I took a quick look at Jupiter this morning bef astro twi ended w a 60mm refract.   Jupiter is at - 2.5 mag.  Due to its current pos in the "low end" of the ecliptic near alf Cap, Jup is at a low alt - 20 degs.  Seeing Antonaidi II, Pickering 4.  Major north and south equatorial bands were seen w clear filter. Because of the low resolution of the 60mm refract at 100x (900fl x 9mm), the principal use of this session was to test the effects of planetary color filters.  See http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/pcfilt/PlanetaryColorF... for background in planetary filter effects.  Normally, planetary color filters are effective only when using apertures greater than 254mm because they depend on activating color contrast responses in the human eye. Only larger apertures gather enough light to trigger the response.  With Jup at -2.5v, I gave it a shot using 60mm of aperture. Yellow 12 and 15 and Orange 21 were effective in bringing out the Jovian equatorial bands.  The color contrast enhancing effect was easily detected.  Green 58 was effective, but less so than Yellow 15.  Green 58 discarded.  Blue 80A (light) and Red 23A (light) may have been effective but they enhance features smaller than the resolving before of 60mm aperture.  An neutral density Moon filter was also tried to determine if the enhancement effect was the result of reducing glare as opposed to color contrast effects.  The ND filter did not enhance contrast in the equatorial bands. Neptune was visible as a faint blue-grey dot in the same field of view as Jup at 36x. Neptune was near the limiting magnitude of the 60mm considering the advancing sky brightness aft astro twi. At 5am near civil twilight, there was an infrequent shadow eclipse disappear event for Europa.  See RASC Obs Handbook, Jovian Sat. Ephemeris.  In EcD events, the Jovian satellite hangs away from the disk of Jupiter and "winks out" as it enters the shadow of Jupiter.  See for explanation of such events in 2008:  http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/tours/JMEcl2008/JupEclSP.ht...  At 5:10am MDT, a brillant -4.5 mag Venus popped up above the eastern Wasatch and local obscuring trees.   Venus is bright enough and far enough from the Sun that its appears in a good position to attempt daytime viewing and imaging. Clear Skies - Kurt