Observation by Nigel Evans: JUICE
Uploaded by
Nigel Evans
Observer
Nigel Evans
Observed
2026 Sep 25 - 02:00
Uploaded
2026 Sep 25 - 15:39
Objects
Spacecraft
Equipment
Exposure
224*60sec
Location
Ipswich Suffolk
Target name
JUICE
Title
JUICE
About this image
So far it has only been recorded in the BAA by 14” and 11” inch scopes (Grant and Nick), so what hope is there for an 8”?
After 2 earlier failed attempts by me to see JUICE, another opportunity beckoned. A 14 day-old Moon sat some 25 degrees away, lighting up the sky and the cirrus clouds. The clouds moved on. By aligning on the predicted motion of the probe, the stars leave a trail, but this is broken in 2 places: a meridian flip, then the arrival of uninvited clouds : -(. The probe is extremely faint, beyond my ability to measure it i.e. less than mag 19
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Comments
2hrs44mins. Thats dedication.
Well played sir!
Nice work by all three of you involved in this. How bright will it get at closest approach when visible from the UK?
And I guess when it gets really close there will be significant parallax between the three of you? And even greater for any BAA imagers in Spain for example. (I estimate 1 arc minute at the distance of the Moon for a 100km baseline).
Opportunity for some stereo pairs maybe...
Mike.
There is a nice animation of the flyby here (http://orbitsimulator.com/BA/JUICE_Sept_28.mp4), showing the Earth as seen from JUICE. Tonight (27 Sep) Juice enters the Earth's shadow from ~22:50UT until 01:47 tomorrow, partial from 19:23 until 04:10. At 04:10 it will only be 13 deg up and moving at 38 arcsec per minute. Best seen from the Americas.
And if that wasn't enough, there is also the view of JUICE as seen from Neptune!
http://orbitsimulator.com/BA/JUICE_Neptune.mp4
Both animations created by Tony Dunn
On an image Nick posted, he said:
"JUICE is approaching from the night side of the Earth and the simulation indicates that it will be in umbral shadow from 22:50 UTC on Sept 27 to 01:47 UTC on Sept 28. Unfortunately, it is in the penumbral shadow throughout the night for us in the UK. ".
If its clear I will certainly be attempting to image it...
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