A spring evening of farewell to the Great Red Spot of Jupiter

本日，2025年3月26日20時30分，昨年12月初めの木星の衝から４か月近く経って，木星は地球からどんどん遠ざかっていき，もう，大赤斑も見納めかなと望遠鏡を向けてみたところ，さすがに直径151mmの４枚玉アポクロマート，シーイングの良いのに助けられて，大赤斑の米粒を何とか「眼視」することができました．あれあれっ，４大衛星の一つの黒い影が大赤斑に近づいてきて並行して進んでいる．そんなこんなの木星の見納めとなる春の宵の暮れでした．寒さに震えて眺めていた師走の頃が懐かしい．また今年の暮れ，師走になったら再会です．

Today, March 26, 2025, at 8:30 p.m., nearly four months have passed since Jupiter’s opposition in early December last year. Jupiter is moving further and further away from the Earth, and I thought this might be the last time I could see the Great Red Spot, so I pointed my telescope at it. As expected, with the help of the 151mm diameter four-element apochromat and good seeing, I was able to see the Great Red Spot as a grain of rice. Oh dear, the black shadow of one of the four major moons is approaching the Great Red Spot and moving parallel to it. It was a spring evening that was the last time I could see Jupiter. I miss the time in December when I was shivering in the cold. I’ll see it again at the end of this year, when December comes around.