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The weather all over Ireland, albeit cold, gave great viewing conditions for our Jupiter Watch on February 1st, 2012. Make sure you join the Friends of Astronomy Ireland for FREE to get notifications of the next Telescope Watch, aurora alerts, and other events from Astronomy Ireland.

Cork
Our meeting started out cold, and got even colder, with frost appearing on surfaces soon after twilight. Checking Capella, which was overhead, thus good for measuring atmospheric turbulence, there was not a twinkle, indicating good seeing conditions for planets. Venus was setting so we didn't get a good look at her, but Jupiter was nice and high by 8:00pm and the Moon was catching up.. These were our two main targets.

Jupiter didn't disappoint with both main cloud belts visible (though the Great Red Spot was not). This made a difference from the last Jupiter watch held in Oct 2010 (on the 400th anniversary of Galileo's unveiling of the Astronomical Telescope) when the southern belt was missing.

Jupiter's Galilean moons were all lined up from east to west: Io, Ganymede, Europa and Big Calisto. Ganymede was extremely close to the planet when we started, the gap widening as she moved to the west over a few hours. This was a highlight for people who had never seen dynamic live planetary action.

The Moon deserved a look simply because of it's sheer dominance of the scene. Through binoculars and a medium telescope, we saw a good eight-day-old shape, and surprisingly, hidden in the glare just 2 degrees to the north was the Pleiades Cluster. Up-close at high power, we looked at a half-illuminated Copernicus crater, the rising sun lighting up it's eastern terraces brilliantly in the good seeing conditions. Also of note in the south were Tycho with it's high central peak sticking straight up from it's long shadow, and Clavius with it's clutch of secondary craters looking like eggs in a bird's nest.

Many other views were had of the Moon, with periodic checks on the progress of the other moons at Jupiter. Unforgettable is what we will no doubt look back and think of this outstanding few hours of pure astronomical delight. Thanks again A.I.
- Denis Walsh

Dublin
Hundreds of people arrived at Phoenix Park in Dublin under a clear sky and surrounded by deer for the Jupiter Watch. David gave an introduction to Jupiter and many of the other sights visible in the night sky, including the Moon, the Pleiades, Venus, and Mars. Lots of families turned up, and both children and adults alike were amazed by the fact that they could see Jupiter and its moons with their own eyes! A special thanks to all the volunteers who came from all over the county with telescopes for the night!
- Conor Farrell

Kildare
We had an excellent night in Athy for our watch. Over 50 people turned out with some bringing their own scopes. It was -2 degrees C when we started viewing but many held out for two hours to watch the glorious Jupiter with its belts and moons as clear as I have seen in many years. We then hoped over to view Venus low down but showing its phase, we went deep into the Moon where people got to see shadows in the craters and later on we got low down views of Mars. The Orion Nebulae was spectacular and finally around 11pm we looked at the North Star and many were shocked to discover that it was in fact two stars (Binary pair) that they saw. The best turnout and views in a long time here in Athy, no doubt spurred on by the nationwide coverage of the watch and some guy called Professor Brian Cox!!
- Dermot Gannon

Louth
About 30 - 35 turned up at the Louth Watch at Gyles' Quay. Skies were clear and we had four telescopes ranging in size up to an 8 inch reflector. Excellent views of Venus were had before the planet set in the west. Jupiter with its four (later three) moons showed well. Mars rose later in the east but was too close to the horizon to afford decent views. The Moon was the star of the night for many who had never seen it through a telescope before. I also did a laser guided tour of the constellations and night sky objects. All in all an excellent night although it was very cold!
- Derek Watters

Sligo
The Sligo event went very well, we had clear skies all evening, A nice crowed turned out for the event and people kept arriving until almost 10pm. We had super views of Jupiter and the Galilean moons, and we could see the cloud belts in nice detail. We also turned the telescope on the moon and the orion nebula, and I then went on to show some images I had taken of the Orion Nebula M42, the Whirlpool Galaxy M51, and the Great Globular Cluster M13. All the viewing was done through a 9.25 SCT telescope, everyone enjoyed the event as the weather was fantastic with no interruptions by clouds.
- Derek Davey

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