Jupiter: triple moon shadow transit

With my small refractor (WO GT-81) I enjoy observing Jupiter: its belts, zones, the GRS (the latter always looks a lighter grey to my retina) and the four Galilean moons. I've seen a few single and double transits of moons and shadows from my terrace in Central London ('EmmsTowers'). At the April AstroCamp in the Brecons, Wales I had fun observing a transit of Ganymede on Jupiter in clear BLUE skies through a friend's 16" bespoke Dobsonian - a first for me.

So when I learnt there will be a rare triple shadow transit occurring on June 03 beginning in daylight I was determined to have a crack at observing as much as can with my 'frac. At the critical time in the afternoon Jupiter will be in the western skies, a part of the heavens obscured by buildings at EmmsTowers so I've arranged for a few friends to join me to observe the event from Regent's Park.

 It will be fun to find Jupiter in blue skies and see what is on view.

AstroCamp Apr 2014

I'm always keen to attend AstroCamp held biannually in the dark skies of Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. Being an urban stargazing I love to get under darker skies, whether of the Canaries, Isle of Wight and the Brecons.

Last month I attended the latest AstroCamp with the expectations of three dark nights around the April New Moon. The weather, always changeable in the UK, didn't cooperate, providing plenty of rain and cloud. But I did manage a few hours observing with my WO GT81 of a few DSOs I cannot perceive in Central London, namely a trio of galaxies in the Virgo galaxy 'realm' new to my retina, M49, M87 and M60.

During daylight hours I spent the few cloud free hours doing a spot of solar observing

Upper pic by Carol Grayson. Centre pic by Howard Cooper. Lower pic from BBC iPlayer

and demonstrating chromospheric features to others with my Lunt60HaT. Part of the May 2014 Sky At Night television programme was filmed at AstroCamp. The last photo is a brief shot from the show.

The next AstroCamp will be held September 20-23.