My best Jupiter ever + animation!!

[iceman]

Hi all

I had an amazing morning on the 15th March (local time), with the seeing fairly consistent across the whole session at about 8.5/10. Io and it's shadow were in transit.

I captured 13 avi's over about 1.5 hours. 3 of the best images from the start, middle and end of the session are attached, and I also created an animation which you can download here (1.2meg gif):

Jupiter + Io Transit Animation (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/20070315-jupiter_anim.gif)

These are my best images of Jupiter ever, and I'm naturally very pleased with the result :)

Scope and camera: 12" newt on EQ6, DMK21AF04 + 5x powermate. Approx 450 frames from each channel were stacked. Processing in Registax, AstraImage and Photoshop.

Thanks for looking. Comments/questions are welcome.

[netwolf]

Wow Mike those are amazing shots, your new setup is producing the results you wanted.

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

That is a fantastic animation. I love the 3-D look of Io as he traverses the giant’s planetary disc and pops out at the end. The change in profile of Io’s shadow due to projection onto the (almost) spherical surface of Jupiter is quite amazing to watch as well.

I’m sure it took a lot of hard work, in particular the processing, but it was well worth the time and energy invested.

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy]

WOW, and he did that with a box brownie?? LOL A fantastic result for all that hard effort Mike!

[want a be]

Looking at images that are this good is how I choose my screen name of Want a Be...Because I want to be capturing photo's as good as this...Very,Very nice....

[RB]

I'm mesmerised, I can't believe my eyes........:eyepop:

[ving]

eh,... its ok i guess....

just kidding :thumbsup:

[JohnH]

Your best = world class mate, look forward to seeing them on APOD...

Mike, this forum is proud of you and what you have done with this site, the star parties and with your images. Inspirational, thank you (and your family).

[[1ponders]]

Mikey, Mikey, Mikey! What can I say.

WOW!!!! :jawdrop:

Rightly pleased you should be young Skywalker.

[iceman]

Thanks guys for your feedback.



Thanks for your nice words, John. Funny you should mention APOD - I hope they choose to use it (I have submitted it). Interestingly, it's been exactly (well, close enough) 1 year to the day (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060318.html) since I was featured on APOD with a Jupiter image last year.

It's nice to look back on that image and animation and see how far my imaging has come.

[John K]

Well done Mike, that has to be the most incredibly detailed animation I have ever seen!

[davidpretorius]

just look at IO and how it has not been overprocessed, top stuff mike....the animation reminds me of damians from last year

[DavidH]

Lovely stuff Mike. Fascinating to see Io's shadow elongate as it goes around the edge of the disc.

David.

[gbeal]

Great shot(s) Mike, well done. Great gear, persistance, and decent seeing, all coming together.
Congrats.
Gary

[sheeny]

Excellent work Mike!:thumbsup:

Al.

[iceman]

Thanks guys, appreciate your comments.

[robin]

Very nice animation Mike. You can almost reach out & touch it. Good stuff

[Deeno]

Comments- Bloody amazing
- Must have an abundance of patience
Questions- how the hell do you do that?

[richardo]

Simply stunning Mike...
the AVI is outstanding almost like you were geo stationary at a Lagrange point on a interplanetary shuttle craft taking these sets of images.

Awesome:eyepop:

Thanks for sharing
Cheers
Rich

[leon]

Hey Mike where do you hide Hubble, :whistle: fantastic images.

Leon :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Good stuff Mike.
Let's see you beat that!

[iceman]

Thanks guys and gal!

[silwat]

You're in a league of your own mate... Awesome Pics, absolutely awesome.:thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Incredible stuff, far more detail then the eye can see.
Scott

[strongmanmike]

Have to say Mike, pretty impressive!

While the movie is very interesting I actually like the stills the best and particularly the detail visible in the Red and Green data.

If I may ask and since you are nocking on their door, in the very best planetary images I've seen, the processing artifact that seems the hardest to remove is the thin peel like border that usually shows itself on the planets limb. Can you remove or reduce this or would it mean losing some of the sharpness?

This is one of the things that seems to set Damien and Maurice et al's planetary images apart from the rest IMO ie a very natural but clean transition from planet to dark sky?

This is of course a very minor comment and the technical skill shown in these Jupter shots is excellent.

Mike

[acropolite]

Amazing detail Mike, world class image...:thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

Great work!

Know that you are also starting to get into Deep Sky imaging, lets see you do an animation of a Galaxy spinning! You will only need to take 1 frame each 1000 years to make it work :lol:

[xelasnave]

Really world class Mike it is as good or better than I have seen for a long long time. Congratualtions on an outstanding effort. I am so happy for you and to see your dedication so well rewarded.
alex

[iceman]

Hi Mike. The "hard edge" is due to the sharpening algorithms we use, and of course nearest the black edge is where it gets most pronounced, as the data is sharpened from gradient to hard white against black. I agree it can be off-putting and can sometimes detract from an otherwise good image.

In very good seeing (when people like Damian and Maurice post their very best work), the artifact doesn't show up much at all because the shape of the planet hasn't changed much like it does in poorer seeing, when it requires more sharpening to try and extract some detail. It can also show up more if you attempt to over-sharpen given the data you've got.

I think in general though, it comes down to selective processing to avoid that hard edge. I have lately started doing a small guassian blur around a feathered selection at the edge of the disc to reduce the hard edge artifact. It would also be just as easy to selectively sharpen the middle part of the image so the limb gradients aren't changed. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys like Damian do process in this way to avoid the artifact.

Thanks for your thoughts, it's prompted me to be more careful next time and try to avoid them.

[strongmanmike]

That makes sense then.

Glad you took the minor but constructive critisism in the right spirit! It is always hard to make public comment on an image other than just saying "great work" or "incredible" etc.. without sounding like a nit picker or stick in the mud.

One day I'll have a go at planetary imaging myself with the Starfire and then you can have a constructive critisism field day! :lol:

Mike
ps. Great work and incredible image by the way! :D

[matt]

Mike (Sidonio)

It's great you ask the question and offered your opinion.

I enjoyed Ice's response and clearly he took it in the spirit it was intended.:)

I'm always looking for ways to improve my planetary imaging, so while I appreciate the "that's great"s and "well done"s.. I also appreciate the constructive criticism I occasionally get when I post images.

In fact, Mike is one of the few fellow imagers I know I can count on for a little nudge in the right direction when I do post an image, and I am very grateful.

I take it as a sign my fellow imagers recognise in me a desire to improve my images and offering a little helpful advice is their way of showing appreciation for my images and a sign of mutual respect.:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Thats all right, Mike Sid (bugger cant even shorten to Mike S because they are still the same...) has onion rings in last years SPSP winning shots:rofl: ;) :P :whistle:

[strongmanmike]

Onion rings..??

Onion rings..?...mmmm...ooonion riiings..arggle..arggle.... dribble....

Mike Sid on Homer

[RayOfLight]

Truly amazing, jaw-dropping work, Mike!!

[KISA]

Awesome definition Mike, well done.

Nice work on the animation too.

Markus

[doogal]

Wow thats incredible:eyepop:, can i ask a question? what sort of scope can an image like this be seen through? i seen you said it was a 12" scope so if i was to buy say a lightbridge 12" could i get results similar to these?

Thats amazing!