Jupiter, 3 Moons and a Star

Image captured from our Backyard
at 6.30pm on 4th January 2013

January the 4th started very well. My Birthday present arrived by post, a new 60mm right-angle finder and guide scope for use with my 127mm refractor.  A finely engineered piece of kit assembled and supplied by Altair Astro based in Aylsham Norfolk.  Top customer service guys!

About 18.00 UTC the sky was clear and Jupiter was shining brightly in a transparent  sky.

Having been seduced by good weather before only to be let down by clouds rolling in to obscure the stars,  I carefully searched the sky from horizon to horizon.  Not a cloud in sight, not even a hint of mist.  So I decided to go for it, I unpacked my scope, laptop, camera, wires and astro accessories.

I get my scope on its mount in my back yard, connect all the bits together, fire up all the various bits of electronics and align my telescope and point it towards Jupiter.  For some unknown reason Windows Vista on my laptop refuses to recognise my 'planetary camera' and so I waste 20 minutes whilst my camera and laptop get aquainted.

Finally after some oath swearing and mumbled profanities I manage to get a focussed image of Jupiter on my laptop screen.

I adjust the 'gain' and set the AVI clip length to 150 seconds, any more and the fast rotation of the clouds in the Jovian atmosphere will blur my image. I press the clip capture button. Geronimo!

I look up and cannot believe it.  There are clouds everywhere. Where did they come from?  Is someone somewhere 'havin a laugh'? All I needed was 150 seconds of cloud free night sky, is this too much to ask?

Anyway I managed to catch enough photons to create a reasonable photograph of Jupiter including its Great Red Spot and three of its Galilean moons.  I also captured the double or multiple star system designated BU87.

Details of star BU87

Visual magnitude: 5.91
Spectral type: M0III       o
Distance: 1754 +/- 663 light years
Luminosity: 1013 +/- 911 x Sun's luminosity

Position information for 04 Jan 2013 18:20:25
(Julian day number 2456297.26418)

Apparent RA (epoch of date): 04h 23m 11.03s
Apparent Dec (epoch of date): +20° 51' 03.3"
Constellation: Taurus

Altitude: +40° 48' 47"
Azimuth: 112° 0' 9"

Hour angle: 20h 45m 15s

Rise: 13h 27m 32s
Transit: 21h 34m 38s
Set: 5h 45m 41s

Names and Catalog Numbers

Tycho catalog number: TYC 1276-1625-1
Hipparcos number: HIP 20417
Henry Draper number: HD 27639
DM number: BD +20 0744
WDS designation: BU 87

First go at processing the video Clip (a bit too technicolour)