Jupiter & Its Moons - 31 July 2008

Last evening, as I was about to retire from a full day of activities, the pinky evening clouds cleared for a while and I could see Jupiter almost at zenith, in full brilliance. Just two weeks ago, I bought myself a Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain NexStar 5 telescope. Now, the sky with Jupiter just above seemed too good an opportunity for me to let up and just head into bed...

So I quickly changed into jeans, packed the NexStar 5 into the car and drove down to a secluded car park at East Coast Park, set up the telescope and very quickly located Jupiter.

At 2325 hrs, this guy fulfilled a life long dream. When I was 11 I harboured my first interest in the night sky when my brother had pointed out the constellation Orion as we attended Midnight Mass at an open air section of church. Ever since then, I secretly fell in love with Astronomy and cosmology. I could not afford a telescope then, nor had the opportunity to even view the night sky through one... it was always with my binoculars, and unlike situations where families have backyard Newtonian telescopes in the US, this is just not the norm in cloudy and light-polluted Singapore. Even when the Singapore Science Centre observatory opened up, I had not found the time to "join the queue". When the time came around one Friday evening two weeks ago to do just that, I found myself speaking to founding members of the Singapore Astronomical Society and making the NexStar 5 my first investment into realising that dream.

So just imagine how I felt when I peered into the viewer and could make out Jupiter and five satellites in utter clarity. The five moons were like sparkling diamonds in an almost straight line around her, and after adjusting the focus further, I could even make out the two belts of Jovian clouds in its light orange hue.

It was an incredible moment for me, personally. I actually felt vindicated, for all the effort and perseverance, and just then a few other passer-bys, Terence and his pal Richard, came along and I let them view the Jovian system, to their utter amazement.

When I arrived back home about 1 am, and carried the instrument and tripod towards my flat, I noticed that the open arena next to my home had a stellar mosiac floor laid out into its centre. Just then the sky cleared again, and I could not resist but test how quickly I could set up the NexStar 5 up. I did it in seconds, amazingly and invited two youths nearby to take a peek. Will and Lynette peered in turns as I fine-tuned the focus for maximal clarity, and they were in turn just amazed as well.

It felt utterly good, having to share those great views of Jupiter and the Jovian moons. At present, the magnification I have is about 110X, which is maximum for my aperture and reflector, and for now, really terrific. I can't wait two weeks when the Moon comes back to the night side and is full... Time then for the moon filter to get used.