Jupiter and Saturn 16/8/20

[Tulloch]

A last minute decision to take some images last night, I was keen to see the interaction of the GRS and Oval BA on Jupiter, so with a small break in the clouds visible I quickly set up in the backyard. I placed some ice packs on the bottom of the OTA to help cool it down quicker, and with the GRS and Oval BA disappearing rapidly, I started imaging 30 minutes later (not ideal I know).

Still, the results weren't too bad, the two features are still a little far apart for any real interaction yet (at least as much as my equipment and hasty setup will allow), the best of the three videos I took is below and I managed to bang off a quick Saturn because, well you know, it's Saturn :).

Celestron Evolution C9.25 with Tele Vue 2.5x PowerMate and ASI224MC, Jupiter captured for 3 min at 150 fps shown at captured size, Saturn 5 min at 100 fps shown 150% captured size.

Andrew

[morls]

Great images, and processing.

[Quopaz]

Nice pics, that Oval BA looks like it's going to get very close to the red spot soon. Just have to wait and see what happens.

[Stonius]

Your 'not ideal' images are what I aspire to. Well done! :-)


Markus

[Retrograde]

Very nice images Andrew. Good detail but not over-sharpened.

[Tulloch]

Thanks all :)

[Saturnine]

Definitely fine images of Jupiter and Saturn, very well done captures.
Will be interesting to watch for any interactions between Oval BA and the Red Spot in the coming weeks / months.

[andyc]

Hi Andrew, these are excellent images, and the Jupiter image in particular is very informative with a large SEBs ring feature within the Red Spot Hollow (at about 11 o'clock). Would you be willing to share them with ALPO-Japan (http://alpo-j.sakura.ne.jp/indexE.htm) and/or PVOL (http://pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/), so that the pro-am planetary community can see them? (I'm not sure if you do this regularly at all, but we're always looking for good images, especially those that show interesting activity!)
All the best,
Andy

[Tulloch]

Thanks Andy, I haven't posted any images to those sites, I usually post on the CN website with the occasional update here.

I posted a 3x drizzled and enhanced version of the dark area around the GRS in this posting
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/723718-jupiter-and-saturn-16-aug-2020/?p=10426425

Joe, the "moonwatching ferret", also posted images with timings either side of mine in this post, where if you squint you can see the dark patch on either side of where I observed it.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/723915-big-change-in-grs-in-2-days/

Andrew

[Tulloch]

.. but it appears that Darren (aka DMach) has the shot of the day of this feature, have a look here.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/724279-jupiter-2020-08-15-oval-ba-approaching-the-grs-with-7-day-comparison/

[Hisanori]

Ice packs sound a good idea. I will try ;)

[Tulloch]

Yep, something I picked up from Darryl over on CN, face the OTA straight down and put the ice packs on the solid metal back (with a cloth wrapped around it so it doesn't drip water all over the scope :)).

Andrew

[Inmykombi]

I like your work. well done. Great images with nice detail.

[cydonia]

Very nice, are you able to share your processing technic ?

[Tulloch]

No worries, it's nothing particularly special, I follow the steps outlined here.
http://planetaryimagingtutorials.com/

As noted in the original post, I use a Celestron Evolution C9.25 with Tele Vue 2.5x PowerMate and ASI224MC, Jupiter captured for 3 min at 150 fps shown at captured size, Saturn 5 min at 100 fps shown 150% captured size.

I use Autostakkert!3 to stack around 5000 to 7500 frames for both planets with 3x drizzle on, sharpen in Registax 6 using the settings shown below (Jupiter first, Saturn second), then perform some final adjustments in Photoshop (levels 20/1.0/230), saturation +20%, noise reduction using settings (10/0%/100%) and I sharpen the rings of Saturn a little more.

Hope this helps, Andrew