Well this has been a long time coming… It’s been over 4 months since my last planetary image!

A combination of bad weather, bad seeing and very low motivation for astrophotography (mainly the latter) has meant I just didn’t have my telescope out for literally 4+ months.

I’m trying to force myself back into it, and with Mars almost at opposition (although still very small at 14 arcseconds and very low in the north) I figured now is as good a time as any to get the scope out and take some images again.

So here is a very ugly Mars from Friday night in typically below average seeing and with the planet under 30deg in altitude.

Mars - 22nd Jan 2010

I didn’t really forget anything, but it did feel a bit clunkier – everything took a little longer to get going and be up and running.

But anyway, it’s a start. It’s ugly, but it’s Mars all the same. And hopefully the motivation can climb a little higher and encourage me to get the scope out again the next time it’s clear (it’s been cloudy since then :)).

Thanks for looking.

Well this animation has been a long time coming. Back on the 5th July 2009, Ganymede and Callisto had a close approach – no occultation unfortunately, but it was still great to see them so close together.

Ganymede, at 5,200km diameter (1.7 arcseconds) and Callisto at 4,800 km diameter (1.6 arcseconds) are both over 635 million km away. The seeing was only just above average, but both moons show consistent albedo features throughout many frames of the animation.

Click the image below to view the 15 frame animation which covers just over 2 hours of elapsed time.

Ganymede and Callisto Close Approach Animation. Click to Play.

Please read on to find out more about the capture and processing.

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On the 31st August 2009, we had a reasonably high and bright ISS pass, as the space station passed at about 60° altitude and reaching -2.8 apparent magnitude.

Unfortunately the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-128) was still on its way to the ISS and had not yet docked. The Space Shuttle actually passed overhead about 8 minutes before the ISS, but they happened very early in the evening and the sky was still blue so I couldn’t spot the shuttle pass.

8 minutes later, the sky was dark enough and the ISS bright enough for me to be able to spot the pass. It came from the SW through to the NE passing through NW, which means trees in my backyard. So I couldn’t get it in my finderscope until it had passed its maximum altitude.

International Space Station, 31st August 2009

Continue reading for more information about capture and processing.

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After breaking the news of Anthony Wesley’s discovery of an impact scar on Jupiter on Monday morning (while I was waiting to board a plane to Melbourne), Friday night was my first opportunity to capture an image of the now famous “Wesley Impact Scar”, or “Bird Strike” (Anthony’s forum name is “bird”).

Jupiter, GRS and Wesley Impact Scar (right on the limb, top right)

The image above shows the GRS just past the Central Meridian (CM), and the Impact Scar is just coming into view, on the top right of the image.

I’d been in Melbourne all week and was very frustrated to have not been able to capture an image of it until now. On Friday night, 24th July, the impact scar was transitting while Jupiter was almost right overhead, but unfortunately the seeing conditions were only average, and deteriorated even further as the Bird Strike came more into view.

Please continue reading to see another image from the session.

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It’s been a while between posts – I’m currently up on the Sunshine Coast for a work conference, and have finally had a few spare moments to finish off this image.

This image was captured on Monday morning, 6th July local time (5th July UT), in slightly above average seeing. It shows Oval BA still with a darker orange/red ring inside it, and the continuing upheaval of the NEB.

Jupiter and Oval BA

I’ve also got some images of the Ganymede + Callisto close approach that occurred on the same night, but I’m still going through that data and need to create an animation, so it could be a few more days yet before I’ll get a chance to post the final result.

Thanks for looking.

Captured on the 23rd June (local time), this animation represents 3 hours of rotation on Jupiter, as the Great Red Spot (quite a bit paler this year) transits across the face of the gas giant. Also visible, down lower on the NEB, is the new “NEB Upheaval” – a series of new spots and disturbances that are likely to change the look of the NEB for the remainder of the season.

Click the image to see the full 17-frame animation which covers 3 hours of rotation. It’s a 2.4mb gif file and will open in a new window.

Jupiter, GRS and NEB Upheaval Animation. Click to Play.

The Galilean Moon, Io, pops out from behind Jupiter in the last frame of the animation. The red colour is because it hadn’t yet made much of an appearance in the blue and green channels (which were captured before the red channel). Io really moves fast!

Below is one of the 17 frames of the animation as a still image, from near the middle of the session.

Jupiter, GRS and NEB Outbreak

Continue reading to see 2 other images and more information about the capture and processing.

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This image of Venus in Ultra Violet light was captured on the morning of the 23rd June – the same morning that I captured my first Mars of 2009 and Jupiter with the NEB Upheaval. It was a busy morning!

The colours reveal some albedo differences in the cloud tops on Venus, and come from a combination of using a Schuler UV filter for capturing the luminance (detail) data, and processing the image as a false-colour composite using colour data from the RGB channels as well as the UV channel.

The seeing was only average, and Venus was at a respectable 30° altitude – shining brilliantly at mag -4.18.

Continue reading for more information about the capture and processing.

I captured the image with my 12″ Newt on the EQ6, with the DMK21AU04 and 5x powermate at about 6:30am local time. The UV data was captured at 15fps for approx 2 minutes giving me about 2000 frames. RGB data was captured at 60fps with a shutter speed of about 1/1000s and gain at about 800 (approx 80%) for about 60 seconds in each channel, giving me 3000 frames in each channel.

The separate channels were processed independantly in Registax 5, and the LRGB composite was made in Photoshop, where the UV channel made up the luminance data (giving the contrast) with the colour coming from the combination of R, G+UV/2 and UV making up the RGB.

I’m still waiting for a morning of great seeing to capture an excellent image of the cloud tops on Venus – but with the Sun not rising until 7am (well after the time I’ve had to go to work), it limits my opportunities at this time of year. Venus is on its way back towards the Sun over the next 5 months, heading for inferior conjunction in December, so hopefully I’ll get a few more chances before Venus dips too low.

Thanks for looking.

On Tuesday morning, 23rd June 2009 I captured my first image of Mars for 2009. It’s still very early in the season, with Mars still 288 million kilometres away, subtending a tiny diameter of a 4.9″ on the sky.

Mars doesn’t reach opposition until late January, 2010 when it will be 14 arcseconds in diameter – a lot smaller than it was at its closest in 2003, when it grew to 25″ in diameter.

A Tiny Mars, 23rd June 2009

And no, Mars will not be as big as the full moon in August! It’s a hoax

Continue reading for more information about the capture and processing of the image.

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On the morning of the 12th May, I had some very good seeing – the best I’ve had all year, and I was able to record some images of Jupiter and Ganymede in very good conditions, allowing surface details (albedo features) to be seen on Ganymede – one of the Galilean Moons of Jupiter, 750 million kilometres away!

I’ve created an animation of the best frames from the morning session – click the image below to view the animated gif. Keep reading on to see the best individual images and more technical details.

Jupiter and Ganymede Animation: Click to Play

The animation spans almost 1.5 hours, starting with the last of Ganymede’s shadow as it finished transiting the disc of Jupiter, and ends with Ganymede about 20 minutes away from starting its transit.

Continue reading for more information and to see the best individual frames from the morning session.

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On Saturday morning 9th May we had a beautiful clear morning but only barely above average seeing. I captured Jupiter with Oval BA and the small white spot next to it, and before sunrise I turned my scope towards Venus for the first time this year, and captured the lovely crescent phase in UV light to reveal albedo markings on the cloud tops.

Jupiter and Oval BA

And below is Venus at around 6am local time, captured in UV and RGB. Venus is currently a 31% illuminated disc, and is shining stunningly bright at mag -4.5!

Venus in UV False Colour

Please read on to find out more about the capture and processing.

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