Observing Jupiter with small refractor

[Canopus Lim]

These days the weather has been bad..rain rain rain.. cloudy.. poor seeing. June and July seems to have the worse weather for astronomy these years.

2 nights ago the weather was a bit more tamed, so I used my Megrez 88FD refractor to do some simple observation of Jupiter. If I were to use my main scope, my 12.5" dob, I would do some sketching.. but for a small scope, I don't bother. I never brought out my main scope as the sky was not favourable enough to warrant the amount of effort and time to set it up.

Anyway, to put it short, I found it easy to see the GRS with the Megrez 88FD! Actually, it was so easy to see the GRS (considering that the GRS is rather pale in colour now..) and the details from this scope was quite astonishing for its aperture. Details in the NEB and SEB, GRS, a few belts and the polar caps were easily seen with the 88FD. The image was also sharp at 123x and 160x; much sharper and better contrast than 5" SCTs. I did not use 200x as the mount does not perform that well at such magnifications and and also due to the strong winds (I was observing from my apartment) causing vibrations.