Heads up: HST transits Jupiter tonight, Brisbane (and 1000th post! :)

[von Tom]

There is an imaging opportunity tonight (7:43pm) for Brisbanites, where the HST transits Jupiter for those in the north. The CalSky Ground track is here:
http://www.calsky.com/?Transitline=&...231&mainbody=5 (http://www.calsky.com/?Transitline=&showhome=&obs=81134432212366&tdt=2456308.90604908&sat=20580&interval=0.00011574&step=0.00000231&mainbody=5)
and it is only about 300m wide, meaning you must be within 150m of the displayed track to actually see the HST cross the disc of the planet. The track is through Redcliffe, Deception Bay, and Narangba/Burpengary). Charlish Park (http://www.mustdobrisbane.com/kids/outdoors/charlish_park_suttons_beach.asp) looks good!

Here is an old thread of mine showing my first successful attempt and a description of some of the issues involved:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...jupiter&page=1 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=78751&highlight=hst+jupiter&page=1)

And one from StephenM (I hope you don't mind! :) )

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ht=hst+jupiter (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=34880&highlight=hst+jupiter)

Every km away from the track will add 2 arc minute's distance of the pass, so that someone 24km away (like me) will see the HST pass by 1 degree from Jupiter.

Cheers,

Tom

[Shark Bait]

So close yet so far..... :doh:

Thanks for making the information available Tom. It was a pleasure to meet You and your Family.

Afocal Imaging with Panasonic DMC-FT1 compact in AVCHD Lite Video Mode (have to do the best you can with the gear that you have). Camera mounted onto 25mm EP & 2x Barlow combo.

SW 12" GoTo Dobsonian.

Suttons Beach, Redcliffe, QLD. Wednesday 16th January 2013.
27deg 14' 01.8" S 153deg 06' 56.8" E
1943 hrs EST (0943 hrs UT)

[von Tom]

Hey Stu nice to meet you too! Yeah we lucked out on the transit even though we were at the predicted location. It just shows how tiny the tolerances really are! I was about 46m south of you and it'll be interesting if we see any parallax. I'm processing my images at the moment. Also got a wide view video with my Dad's camera.

Tom

[Shark Bait]

Looking forward to seeing your images Tom. Here's to the next 1000.

Telescopes were setup approx halfway along the path on the right side of the attached photo.

Suttons Beach, Redcliffe, QLD.

[Dennis]

Great work and what an exciting astro-adventure. Great images Stu, so darned close!

Cheers

Dennis

[von Tom]

Here's a couple of images. The first is a composite of 12 frames of video taken with a Canon EOS 550D at prime focus of a 12" SkyWatcher Goto Dobsonian, 640x480 crop mode, ISO 400, 1/2000th sec at 60fps. The second is a Startrails image taken from video with my Dad's EOS 650D.

Thanks for looking,

Tom

[Dennis]

Nice work Tom, you da master at this stuff!

Cheers

Dennis

[Rob_K]

Great stuff guys!



Hmm, maybe you did, too lazy to do the maths but the pics do indicate something. I rotated & scaled your shots, then aligned them on the moons. The blowout on Jupiter is evident in the first set (I stacked those) but even if the 'Jupiters' are exactly centred there still appears to be a noticeable difference. :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[von Tom]

Thanks Rob I was just doing the same thing! The key is the alignment of the moons. Definitely a difference due parallax there!

[Rob_K]

Yep, in any case I did another alignment, centreing Jupiter and it's still clear. I'd say that the apparent difference between the two sets is due to some lens effect with the DSLR, blowing the big, bright Jupiter out more one side than the other. Perhaps! :P

Cheers -

[Shark Bait]

I appreciate the effort that went into the layered images. It looks like we needed move a fair way South to capture the transit. I have not done the math, but it looks to be at least 200m.

My humble imaging setup was pushed to its limits when taking the video. When I managed to extract the still shots there was no room to move in reducing the blown out effect seen at Jupiter. I am glad they can still be used to compare parallax.

Dennis is right Tom, you have this astro niche sorted.

Tom, your father mentioned an old image of Sputnik during a pass. If it can be found, is it possible to post a copy of it on IIS?

[naskies]

Doh! So close... yet so far!

[Dennis]

Nice comparison and analysis of the two sets of images, what a difference a few 10’s of metres doth make with these Earth orbiting objects.

Cheers

Dennis

[deanm]

Following in Ian Musgrave's footsteps, if you know the distance between the scopes, and can work out the angles from parallax, you can calculate the distance to HST!

Dean

[von Tom]

I did some rough measurements and calculations and came up with distance to the HST being about 1000km.

Stu, my Dad is looking for his pic of Sputnik - will be interesting to see!

[Dennis]

Hi Tom

Good job! Starry Night Pro displayed a value of 835.6 kms in the “Info” panel, “Position in Space” Tab for Brisbane (bottom LHS of screen capture attached).

Cheers

Dennis