Observing

Canis Major won't be in the early evening sky for a month or two,
but here's a chance to brush up on connecting the dots.

I am including 2 renderings of Canis Major here...
Pick one and see if you can do better than a 5 stick figure in my star atlas.

Steve

Canis Major to Magnitude 6.0, designed for printing, then drawing the lines to make it look like something.

This one has a few less stars. I still see a poodle when i look at it.Best to right click, save the image, then print it.

Here is an image of Jupiter taken by my pal Chris Go on 9 November, showing the absent SEB and the Great Red Spot as it appears now (N is up). Watch the SEB for developments:

Jupiter 9 Nov 2010 (our time)(N is up)

Sky & Telescope is reporting news of the possible return of Jupiter's South Equatorial Band. Christopher Go and Donald Parker have observed a bright round spot in the position normally occupied by the SEB. In the past, such spots have darkened, then spread out to form the usually red-brown "stripe" known as the South Equatorial Band.

The newly observed spot will transit Jupiter's disk tomorrow night (Nov. 11) at about 12:30 a.m.** according to Donald Parker.

Be sure to watch Jupiter and follow any developments.

Sky & Telescope's complete article can be found here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/107042728.html

Update 7:45 pm, Nov.11:
** Sky & Telescope have since corrected the transit time for the SEB "spot" to 5:28 UT Nov. 11 - which means LAST night. ( !! ) The spot is located at approximately 150 degrees longitude (system III) on Jupiter. To determine the current CML (central meridian longitude) on Jupiter for any given date or time, you can use the online calculator at: http://www.arksky.org/newcmcalc.htm .