Thursday, January 27, 2005

A Quick Observation of the Jupiter

Yesterday night, I woke up at 4:00a and I saw Jupiter in the small observation window of my home. I took out the Ranger and the tripod in less than 1 minute to begin look at it.

The Jupiter was already at the boundary of the observing window, and therefore, I've to work quick. I point the scope out to the window and soon I found that bright dot of light. I used the Tele Vue 20mm Plossl and I could see the surface bandings. By inserting the Orion Shorty Barlow, I could see more clearly. As described by the manual of the Ranger, all the resolution of the Ranger can be seen theoretically at 40x, which is similar to the 20mm Plossl with barlow. However, it also states that it would normally require 80x or 120x to view it clearly.

I then proceed to the Celestron 6.3mm Plossl and I got 76x, the disc became bigger. And I could see the Jupiter was moving easily. I've also tested it with the barlow on, and the bright giant gone suddenly.

I realized that it's gone below the building at the front.

Now, it's proved that the Ranger is really portable, with the tripod and it can be setup very quickly.

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