Jupiter: Opposition 2004

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. The planet is 11 earth diameters wide. To give an idea of the size of the planet, the great red spot, visible in some of the images below could easily fit the earth within it. It is about 5 times further from the Sun that we are here on planet earth. It takes about forty minutes on average for the light from Jupiter to reach our eyes.
Jupiter is probably my favourite planet to observe, this is because it looks different from day to day, and year to year, there is always something happening on the planet.

A first attempt at an animation of Jupiter

Made at Newtonian focus of my Dob.
Saturday 28th Feb 2004 - 21:45UT to Sunday 29th - 01:30UT

 23rd March 2004