Director: K. Horikawa, Secretary: Y. Iga
Jupiter was decreasing altitude towards solar conjunction on Jan. 24. Though we had little time for observation after sunset, we received observations from eager observers listed below.
| Observer | Location | Telescope | Images/Drawings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akutsu, Tomio | (Philippines) | 35cm SCT | 2 | images |
| Einaga, Hideo | (Hyogo, Japan) | 30cm Refl. | 8 | images, 2 maps |
| Fukui, Hideto | (Shizuoka, Japan) | 35cm SCT | 5 | images |
| Horikawa, Kuniaki | (Yokohama, Japan) | 16cm Refl. | 2 | drawings |
| Yoneyama, Seiichi | (Yokohama, Japan) | 20cm Refl. | 1 | image |
| Yunoki, Kenkichi | (Osaka, Japan) | 26cm Refl. | 1 | image |
Since every observation was made under poor condition, no image was able to reveal the detail of Jupiter surface no longer. Dark streak along SEBs edge still remained preceding RS, though it began to fade last month. Its p. end was at about II:70 deg., and whole length became somewhat longer than that in late November. It seems that it does not disappear simply. RS was still Hollow, being surrounded by prominent dark arch.
SEB was quiet and double in general, though irregular shadings were seen inside, and minor activity of white cloud remained between II:200 and 300 deg. Because recent SEB has a tendency to change largely, new activity may take place during solar conjunction. We should watch the state of SEB in the beginning of next apparition.
Saturn passed western quadrature on Sep. 13, and came to appear in the east sky before midnight. Because tilt of the ring will be the local minimum, it attracted interest of many observers. This month, we received observations listed below.
| Observer | Location | Telescope | Images/Drawings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akutsu, Tomio | (Philippines) | 35cm SCT | 15 | images |
| Einaga, Hideo | (Hyogo, Japan) | 30cm Refl. | 3 | images |
| Fukui, Hideto | (Shizuoka, Japan) | 35cm SCT | 10 | images |
| Ikemura, Toshihiko | (Nagoya, Japan) | 38cm Refl. | 8 | images |
| Kumamori, Teruaki | (Osaka, Japan) | 20cm Refl. | 7 | images, 1 animation |
| Mishina, Toshiroh | (Yokohama, Japan) | 20cm Refl. | 1 | image |
| Nakai, Kenji | (Hiroshima, Japan) | 25cm MCT | 3 | images |
| Pellier, Christophe | (France) | 25cm SCT | 6 | images |
| Takimoto, Ikuo | (Kagawa, Japan) | 31cm Refl. | 2 | images |
| Yoneyama, Seiichi | (Yokohama, Japan) | 20cm Refl. | 6 | images |
| Yunoki, Kenkichi | (Osaka, Japan) | 26cm Refl. | 42 | images |
The tilt of the ring reached -0.8 deg. at the end of the year, it was the local minimum in the first half of this apparition. Since Saturn was almost a level, the ring appeared as a thin straight line, just like a 'kushi-dango', a rice-flour dumpling on a bamboo stick. Interestingly, a few observers reported that the ring seen visually was more sharp than that in images. It may be caused by lower luminosity than Saturn's body. This aspect will be kept until mid-January, but the tilt of the ring turns it to increase again and reaches the local maximum of -4.1 deg. in May.
Saturn's body showed activity of white spots this apparition too. On Dec. 10, Akutsu observed a white spot in southern STrZ at III:311.2 deg. in longitude, -43.5 deg. in latitude. The spot was clearly seen in Kumamori's image taken in the same day. Since its longitude and latitude was very close to the location where a long-lived white spot was observed in previous apparition, it is suspected that a series of activities are still continuing. Unfortunately, it was not tracked then. Akutsu also recorded low-contrast white spot twice in SEBZ, but they were not confirmed by other observers.
(January 15, K. Horikawa)
(Translated on September 24)