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Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/17/2010 7:34:11 PM

Sanity

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I wont miss this:

quote:

Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Better catch Jupiter next week in the night sky. It won't be that big or bright again until 2022. Jupiter will pass 368 million miles from Earth late Monday, its closest approach since 1963. You can see it low in the east around dusk. Around midnight, it will be directly overhead. That's because Earth will be passing between Jupiter and the sun, into the wee hours of Tuesday.

The solar system's largest planet already appears as an incredibly bright star — three times brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. The only thing brighter in the night sky right now is our moon. Binoculars and telescopes will dramatically improve the view as Jupiter, along with its many moons, rises in the east as the sun sets.

"Jupiter is so bright right now, you don't need a sky map to find it," said Tony Phillips, a California astronomer under contract with NASA. "You just walk outside and see it. It's so eye-catching, there it is."

Full article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100917/ap_on_sc/us_sci_jupiter_s_approach

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/17/2010 9:45:04 PM

GreedyTop

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cool!!

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/17/2010 9:46:46 PM

Estring

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Well, it's about time!

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/17/2010 9:47:38 PM

wittynamehere

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Yeah, it's been bright for months now. I've been enjoying it while outside for my nightly "medication". Will be sad to see it fade away over the next while, but there's always something interesting around us to look at when the clouds allow it. :)

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/17/2010 9:50:12 PM

GreedyTop

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I wish I had a boat.. it would be awesome to head out into the gulf, away from the light pollution, to watch the sky...

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 7:53:30 AM

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That would explain the increase in my pain levels.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 8:25:47 AM

thornhappy

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* snorty snort *

I wondered what that was. I just knew that it was honkin' bright!

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 10:01:55 AM

DarkSteven

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Sanity, another *&!!*%# ridiculous post from you...

Oh, this isn't Politics and Religion? Never mind.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 10:05:26 AM

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Down the pub at night where I live, it is surprisingly clear of light pollution, so we smokers sit in the beer garden with a pal into astronomy. He has the star map application for his Android phone, which is particularly useful as where the phone is pointed, the application shows the stars in the direction and names them. Sometimes we watch the satellites as they cross the sky, which ones they are and other data, other times we see the space station zipping across.

One time it was particularly interesting as we had got the pub out to watch the space station go over only for us to see something else come over at the wrong time, two objects a bright object followed by a not so bright object, the gap between the two widening until the trailing light went out. After a phone call to a boffin friend in another city, we were told what we had seen was the space shuttle going over after it's launch, the object behind given the time it happened, was the jettison of the external fuel tank.

Anyway, Jupiter coming closer, we are aware of that, must get a photo of it as I did when Mars was close last, not a fab picture, it being a 200x digital image, but I got the polar ice caps on the image. The pal into astronomy points out the night sky with his 100mw green laser which is very useful for the job. Not sure about his current acquisition when it comes will be, the new 1mw blue laser, as the 200mw red laser singes the pub bench at a meter.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 10:35:10 AM

Outlier2

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Sanity

Thanks for the reminder. I hope the local fog clears.

GT, Tell us, after you get out on the water with your boat
and telescope; how do you plan on keeping the boat stable enough?

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 10:56:36 AM

Aneirin

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Outlier2

Sanity

Thanks for the reminder. I hope the local fog clears.

GT, Tell us, after you get out on the water with your boat
and telescope; how do you plan on keeping the boat stable enough?

Outlier

Step out onto the oil ?

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 5:14:13 PM

thornhappy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Outlier2
Sanity

Thanks for the reminder. I hope the local fog clears.

GT, Tell us, after you get out on the water with your boat
and telescope; how do you plan on keeping the boat stable enough?

Outlier

Gyro mount! May cost a lot more than the boat and telescope, though.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 6:25:00 PM

Sanity

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With just a good pair of binoculars the view is fantastic, so a view from a boat is just fine for that kind of observing.

quote:

ORIGINAL: thornhappy

Gyro mount! May cost a lot more than the boat and telescope, though.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 6:41:53 PM

Aneirin

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Why go out onto the wet, are there no mountains anywhere around or at least countryside where light pollution is minimal.

Where I watch the sky is a mile from a city, but in a valley surrounded by high stuff, cliffs, quarries and tall houses.

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RE: Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - 9/18/2010 8:05:04 PM

Sanity

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Im not in town so if I just turn off my yard light and wander out into my field I have a decent view of the night sky but where GreedyTop lives going out on the Gulf might be her best bet.

If I go South from here into the nearby high desert its even better though, for sure. Or take the short trip into the forested mountains to my North... which I do on occasion.

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