Jupiter Watch
13th February @ 7PM at AI Headquarters Blanchardstown (location)
The biggest telescopes in Ireland will be there to show you the biggest planet in the solar system that is closest to Earthclosest to Earth right now and extremely well placed for viewing in telescopes thousands of times more powerful than your eyes.
We’ve picked a night when the Earth-sized hurricane The Great Red Spot will be on view something less than one in a million people have ever seen (see simulation below).
This is a sight you have to see at least once in your life so bring all your family and friends for a night they will never forget.
The event will begin at 7:00pm at our Headquarters in Blanchardstown (just off the M50) For map and directions visit:
The event is suitable for all ages, and we encourage families, children and adults to come along.
JUPITER ON THE NIGHT:
Great Red Spot visible at 7pm:
And then the view at 8pm (Jupiter rotates every 10 hours!):
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And how to identify which moon is which.
Some of the telescopes give mirror-reversed images so just remember that the moon on its own on one side is “Io”.
And the 3 moons on the other side are “Europa” then “Callisto” then “Ganymede” if you work outwards from Jupiter:
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Relative sizes of the Earth & Moon, compared to Jupiter’s 4 big ‘Galilean’ moons:
(Diameters: Earth=12756km, Moon=3475km, Io=3643 km, Europa=3122km, Ganymede=5268km, Callisto=4821km)
Just look how big Ganymede is!
It is bigger than the planet Mercury (4879km). On good steady nights you can see Ganymede as tiny disk in big telescopes!
On steady nights, world-class amateur astronomers like Christopher Go (Philippines) can photograph detail on its surface!
e.g. on Dec.16th a few weeks ago he got:
(using a 14-inch telescope, not much bigger than the 11-inch we use at our Jupiter Watch)
We publish similar photos TAKEN FROM IRELAND in Astronomy Ireland magazine! Watch out for them!
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IDENTIFY MOONS ANY NIGHT:
The images of the Great Red Spot (GRS) and moons of Jupiter are taken from the website on our easy-to-memorise webpage:
which you can use to see if the GRS is visible that night AND identify which moon is which EVEN USING YOUR BINOCULARS!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will the event go ahead if it is raining?
YES! We plan our events in advance, therefore if it is raining the event will still go ahead. In the event of rain/cloud cover we will show you our telescopes and serve refreshments, PLUS Ireland’s best known astronomer David Moore will give a talk and answer all your questions.
Is the event suitable for children?
We welcome children of all ages to our events. Please note that children MUST be supervised AT ALL TIMES to ensure safety around telescopes and tea/coffee areas.
****SCOUT/SCHOOL GROUPS****
While we encourage scout and school groups to come along please call ahead in order to confirm if there are any prior groups arranged to come along. This makes it easier for our volunteers to enable all groups to view these amazing sights.
