Log in

View Full Version here: : Ganymede Occulting Io - Animation


iceman
26-05-2009, 07:24 PM
This morning I was able to capture my first Galilean Moon occultation, when Ganymede passed in front of Io, covering about 40% of the volanic moon.

The seeing was reasonably stable, maybe 6.5/10 and the morning started off beautiful and clear. Some cloud bands came through right at the wrong time, ruining some of the sequences right in the middle of the occultation. Of course it cleared completely after the event was all over.

Despite the annoying clouds almost ruining my chances of capturing anything of the occultation, I was able to image enough of the event to put together this 32-frame animation, covering 33 minutes of elapsed time. Detail and albedo features can be seen on both moons.

Ganymede Occulting Io Animation (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/18) (250k gif)

For more info about my capture and processing settings for this event, and why it’s even so special at all:
Ganymede Occulting Io - My First Galilean Moon Occultation (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2009/05/26/ganymede-occulting-io-my-first-galilean-moon-occultation)

Thanks for looking.

batema
26-05-2009, 07:56 PM
Well done Mike. Looks like this will be a new challange for a number of people thanks to that first wonderful image of the week.

Mark

Marko of Oz
26-05-2009, 08:00 PM
That's great. I'd have liked to have a go at it but the new cam hasn't turned up yet :(.
There's another Titan transit this Sunday. Should be able to catch the last half of it just after full dark. Might be the last opportunity for a long time.

StephenM
26-05-2009, 09:22 PM
Great capture Mike!

Cheers,
Stephen

DavidU
26-05-2009, 09:31 PM
Great stuff ! fantastic capture.:thumbsup:

Quark
27-05-2009, 06:24 AM
Top Stuff Mike,

Looks good, pretty amazing really, when you think about it.

Well done
Cheers
Trevor

RB
27-05-2009, 09:04 AM
Onya mate, well done.

Very nice capture.
Great writeup too.

:thumbsup:

bird
27-05-2009, 09:04 AM
Yep, good stuff Mike. It was total overcast here for that yesterday morning, I got up anyway at 4am but nothing could be done.

It's nice to see the detail on Ganymede, good seeing and the right time of the night helps a lot!

cheers, Bird

cookie8
27-05-2009, 01:26 PM
Wow! You must be very happy with the result. So much albedo details on both. Well done Mike

iceman
28-05-2009, 07:44 AM
Thanks guys, appreciate your comments.

I've still got the Jupiter images from that morning to get through - hopefully today.

Dennis
28-05-2009, 08:14 AM
Hi Mike

Stunning work – it is quite astonishing to be able to witness events like this, courtesy of the dedicated and talented solar system imagers on Ice In Space who continue to push the envelope.

Cheers

Dennis

DaveGee
28-05-2009, 11:15 AM
That's a fantastic effort Mike! These mutual events are wonderful oportunities to make animations that show the astronomical clockwork of the solar system.

I trust you are supporting the PHEMU09 Campaign of Jovian and Saturnian Mutual Occultations and Eclipses program. See...
http://www.imcce.fr/fr/presentation/equipes/GAP/travaux/phemu09/index_en.html

If not, it's easy to do. Ask me how!:thumbsup:

bloodhound31
28-05-2009, 01:09 PM
Wonderful capture Mike. That must take dedication, some very good optics and good seeing. I have a hard enough time just getting their Jovian parent in focus.

Well done.

Baz.

Jen
28-05-2009, 10:53 PM
:thumbsup: well captured Mike cheers :thumbsup:

Lester
31-05-2009, 08:14 PM
Very nice capture, good on ya Mike.

iceman
01-06-2009, 09:00 PM
Thanks guys.

Here's a colour image of Io and Ganymede from about 20 minutes before the occultation.

Quark
02-06-2009, 02:16 PM
Very nice RGB Mike.
Some very nice detail on Ganymede, seems more than just changes in albedo actually looks like large scale surface detail.

The surface of Ganymede has major bright and dark regions, the dark regions are thought to contain a greater amount of rocky material while the brighter regions are thought to be dominated more by ice.

"The New Solar System" by Beatty, Petersen & Chalkin, a University text of mine, provides considerably analysis and info on this subject and a comparison with the images in it and yours is most interesting.

Very well done
Cheers
Trevor

Hachi
02-06-2009, 10:31 PM
Nice work! It's kind of insane when you think about it... Imagine how much force would be required to get these huge objects moving!

This forum is great I just learned what "Occultation" means (Kind of). :)

iceman, you mentioned you captured this observation in the morning... Around what time in the morning was it?

Cheers, Richard

iceman
03-06-2009, 04:48 AM
Thanks Trevor.
Giovanni Adamoli, from the WinJupos team often comments on my images and he often says about my Ganymede images:

I've no doubt the features are real and often compare quite accurately with planetarium views in Starry Night Pro or the JPL Solar System simulator.


Thanks Richard.
This was captured around 4:40-5:10am.

And it's been cloudy every day since!

Lester
03-06-2009, 07:31 AM
The colour image is outstanding Mike.

Would be interesting to see your Ganymede images over some weeks to view the rotation with changing surface characteristics.

iceman
03-06-2009, 08:01 AM
Thanks Lester - I've been thinking of that myself this morning.

All of the moons are tidally locked to Jupiter, so they'll rotate slowly over the course of their orbit. Would need an image at various places during the orbit to show ganymede's rotation.

Definitely one during a run of clear skies soon.

scopemankit
04-06-2009, 11:25 AM
Wow! Was that taken with your 350D?

iceman
04-06-2009, 12:19 PM
No Chris, it was with my DMK21AU04 on my 12".

Cheers