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In this video we are going to go looking for Jupiter and to do that we need to plan ahead
using a piece of free software called Stellarium. Stellarium is your own virtual Planetarium,
it allows you to find any object in the night time sky, move back and forth through time
and look at things from any location on Earth. So let's use Stellarium now to look for Jupiter.
Here we have the sky from Greenwich, at 11am, we will now use the software to find Jupiter
in the night sky. First of all, we need to fast forward time, by changing the time in
the tool, so let's fast forward to 7pm this evening. A good hour after sunset. Next we
want to find Jupiter, via the search tool and the software will take you there. Panning
down, we can see that Jupiter will be in the South East this evening. If you zoom in and
take a closer look you can see that 3 of the 4 moons are visible tonight. We are now ready to take a look at Jupiter
in the real sky.
Earlier on using the software Stellarium, we found where Jupiter is in the night time
sky tonight. Looking at it right now in the South-East, it looks a little bit like a star
expect it does not twinkle as much as the stars do. One way we can capture an image,
is by using a camera smartphone. So let's aim for Jupiter, take a snap and as here's
what I got. If you want to see a bit more detail, we need
a pair of binoculars. Though the binoculars I can see the whole disc of the planet and
also I can see 3 of the 4 Galilean moons, exactly as we saw on Stellarium earlier.
If we want to see even more detail, then we need to use a telescope.
You are seeing the length of our biggest telescope here at the Royal Observatory. The 28-inch
refracting telescope, the biggest of its type in the UK and it has 2 lenses near the top
of the instrument, which are 28 inches wide. Light travels down through the telescope tube,
bouncing off a mirror at the bottom of the telescope and goes out to the eyepiece.
So let's take a look at Jupiter. Wow. You can see the bright and dark bands
across the surface of Jupiter, I can't quite see the great red spot, so that must be on
the other side of the planet this evening. Yes, I can see that detail, and I can see
3 of the Galilean moons. Meaning that Europe must be the odd one out, hiding on the other
side of Jupiter.
So if you are looking for Jupiter in the night sky, you can use anything from a camera on
a smartphone, to binoculars, to a telescope to explore a planet.
And just by using Stellarium on your computer, you can plan for your very own observing night.