Io Transit, Ganymede Occultation, October 27-28, 2011

One of the reasons I love observing the Jovian system and our own Moon is that they give us some of the best chances to see the universe in motion, in real time. When I have the time, I love watching those four little dots dance around Jupiter, or watching the terminator creep along the lunar surface. Stellar occultations by the Moon are nice when you can get them, but one of the easiest ways to see our solar system in motion is through the Galilean Satellites. When Chicago Astronomer Curt informed us of not only an Io transit, but an occultation of Ganymede, and an occultation of Io’s shadow by Io itself, I was really hoping for clear skies. Mostly, the sky cooperated with me. To get the best images I could, I used the 16” LX200 at Conway Observatory. I used my own 25mm 1.25” eyepiece with a 2x Barlow lens, because that particular eyepiece is easiest to use with my point and shoot camera. For most of the images I used a yellow filter (I think #12?) to reduce the glare from Jupiter, without dimming Io and Ganymede too much. All timings are based on direct visual ...