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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I had some nice clear skies on the night of the 14th August, 2009 – when Jupiter was at opposition for the 2009 season. Being at opposition means the Sun, Earth and Moon form a straight line – and Jupiter is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit around the Sun, and it appears at its largest – subtending 48.9 arcseconds.

Unfortunately the seeing conditions were below average, but luckily they steadied for a few minutes just before midnight – long enough for me to capture just one run in slightly above average conditions, before the seeing turned bad again.

Jupiter at Opposition, with the GRS rising

Each channel was recorded for 48 seconds, and 600 frames from each were used to make the final RGB image.

Continuing to hope for clear and steady skies – it’s just not coming this year yet.

Thanks for looking.

On Saturday night 8th August, I was able to capture some images of Jupiter with Io and its shadow in transit. The seeing was just above average – good enough to capture albedo features on Io, including the dark polar regions in contrast against the cloud tops of Jupiter.

The best image from the session is below. Io and it’s shadow are seen on the left, the Wesley Impact Scar is at top left just setting, and Oval BA is on the top right just rising.

Jupiter, Io and Shadow Transit

Please continue reading to see a 6-frame animation of all of the images from the night.

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Last night started like every other – typically below average seeing, but instead of going back to bed, I waited it out – hoping it would get better. And it did!

The seeing peaked at 7 – 7.5/10, on a night when there was a fair bit going on. The GRS transited earlier, followed by the Wesley Impact Scar, along with Ganymede’s shadow and then Ganymede itself.

The image below is the first one I’ve finished processing, and is one of the last of the session. It shows the Wesley Impact Scar at top left, and Ganymede’s shadow and Ganymede on the right.

Jupiter, Ganymede and Shadow

The “Bird Strike” has really elongated out over the past few days, as it gets torn by the jetstream.

Continue reading for more..

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Hi all

On the night of the 3rd August, what started as typically below average seeing, finally improved as the seeing reached a respectable almost 7/10 and gave some of my best views of Jupiter this year.

I was able to catch the 6th magnitude star 45 Cap in the same field of view as Europa and Io, which was a nice surprise.

Below is my best image from the night – the second last capture of the night. The seeing was improving nicely, but high cloud and then thick cloud brought my night to an end.

Jupiter with Wesley Impact Scar

The Wesley Impact Scar can be seen on the upper left of the planet, just about to rotate off. There’s one more image from earlier in the session, when the impact scar was at mid transit. Continue reading for more.

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Today (3rd/4th August) in parts of Europa, Africa, South America and the Middle East, Jupiter is due to occult the star 45 Cap – something that happens very, very rarely.

For other parts of the world, including mine, the star wasn’t occulted by Jupiter but instead gathered close enough in the field of view for a conjunction with Europa and Io while I was out imaging Jupiter this morning.

Here’s my image from the close approach. 45 Cap is on the far left, Europa is next, and Io (with albedo features)  is on the far right.

45 Cap, Europa and Io Close Approach

Europa and Io were on a path to have their own occultation in about an hour from the time the image above was taken, but clouds came and ruined my chance to capture their encounter.

Jupiter images from the session, complete with the Wesley Impact Scar, will be posted later on.

Thanks for looking.

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.