The line between amateur and professional astronomer has always been thin. I know professionals who have no idea how to use a telescopes (theoreticians, usually*), and amateurs who know every nebula in the sky and take pictures of them indistinguishable from those taken at big observatories. Case in point: Damian Peach, who, in September, traveled to Barbados to observe Jupiter. It was around then that the dance of their orbits brought our two planets as close as they get, so Jupiter appears larger through a telescope. Damian also went to Barbados because Jupiter would be very high up in the sky, minimizing atmospheric disturbance. Was it worth it? See for yourself. Using his observations, he made this video of Jupiter rotating over the course of several hours (make sure you set the resolution to 480 to see everything there):
[embed width="610"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37upKkjSGvE[/embed]
Holy Zeus! That is just about the finest imagery ...
