Jupiter from Melbourne this morning Mar 19, 2017

[John K]

Hi everyone,

With only weeks to opposition, good conditions this morning for Jove.

Showing strong activity extending from the NEB to the EZ area as well as several ovals in the SSTB area (A1,2,3,7,8).

Clear skies,

John K

[Mickoid (Michael)]

John, that's a very nice shot , you're getting some really great detail and you're taking advantage of the good seeing we've been spoilt with in Melbourne over the last few weeks along with this great Autumn weather we're having. I can't remember having so many favourable nights for astrophotography for such a long period as it has been at the moment. I hope it continues through April. Your fantastic shot on March the 1st was impressive and this one equals, if not rivals that. You're giving the big boys with much larger scopes a real challenge. Love it!

[AussieBill (Bill)]

Thats amazing.

With your setup, does the picture involve lots of computer processing or is it pretty much stick a camera in the right place push the button and that's all ?

Bill

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

That's a beauty John, well done

[Domol (Domenic)]

Hi John. Yes great work!
I see that you are taking your shots at 5am. Therefore is later and lower better than higher and earlier (jup cross meridian at around 3am) ?
Thanks Domenic

[John K]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Originally Posted by Domol

Hi John. Yes great work!
I see that you are taking your shots at 5am. Therefore is later and lower better than higher and earlier (jup cross meridian at around 3am) ?
Thanks Domenic

Hi Dom - if you check the UTC for this image it was taken at about 4am. Jove culminates before 3am now. I generally check the seeing forecast to decide when to image and if earlier in the night or later will be better.

Originally Posted by AussieBill

Thats amazing.

With your setup, does the picture involve lots of computer processing or is it pretty much stick a camera in the right place push the button and that's all ?

Bill

Hi Bill - I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than pushing a button. Although capturing and filter changes are automated, have to process each IR, R, G, B channel separately, then de-rotate and combine in JUPOS and process again in Photoshop. Some of the new colour cameras are reducing this workload but you would still need to do a reasonable amount of processing especially in poor seeing.