First Jupiter Image 29/07/09

[MickOwens]

Hello All,

I have just finished processing my first attempt at Jupiter using my brand new Neximage with 4.5" Nexstar SLT. I put the avi through registax and was very happy to see the GRS (at least i hope thats what it is). I am wondering if anyone can help me out in identifying the mark above it though? Is this a moon, moon shadow? Bit of dirt on my neximage??? I'm a newbie at all this so if anyone could help then i'd be very happy. The avi was taken at about 9.35pm Wed 29th July in Brisbane if that helps.

I cant believe i've actually captured as much detail as i have on my first go. I know its not a patch on 99% of the stuff thats posted here but i've exceeded my own expectations and i'm a happy man. I think I like this game.

Cheers,
Mick

[renormalised]

Good try for your first attempt!!!. That "bit of dirt" on your image is actually one of the Galilean moons (or its shadow) transiting across the face of Jupiter.... maybe Europa:D

What you will need to do with your next image you take is to make sure that you have acquired proper focus. What you have there is an out of focus image. Just play around with the focuser of your scope until you get a good sharp image onscreen, then adjust the focus of your NexImage cam until you get it as close to nice and crisp as you can.

You will also need to adjust the red tones in your image. If you want a larger image, you can either use eyepiece projection, or better still a barlow lens to effectively lengthen your scope's focal length and increase the f-ratio. That'll give you a narrower field of view but increase the image scale of the planet. Just means you will probably have to increase the gain on the NexImage to brighten the image a bit...not too much though otherwise you'll burn the image out!!!.

In any case, welcome to IIS and pick the brains of everyone here. We're all too happy to give you a hand. Oh...and welcome to the slippery slide into equipment rich, money poor society:P:D

[MickOwens]

Great, i was hoping that it was a moon. Thanks for the advice. I was really suprised that i even got this result as during the capture i was really struggling to see much on the laptop screen at all. I had been adjusting the brightness, gamma and gain in all kinds of different combinations along with attempting to get some kind of semi sharp focus. I eventually got a dancing blob on screen with 2 brown stripes and thought thats as good as i was going to get it last night. I ran it through registax and that was the result. Cant believe what a difference stacking the images makes. This image actually was taken through a barlow so not sure i'm going to achieve a larger image through my 4.5" reflector am i? Not worried though, i'll work on getting a sharper image over a larger image. Thanks for the advice.

Cheers.
Mick

[anthony.tony]

Great shot for a 4.5 inch scope .

[StephenM]

Hi Mick,

That dark spot is the shadow of Ganymede crossing the disk of Jupiter. Ganymede itself was just off the limb of Jupiter at this time. I was out there observing this at the same time that you were imaging.

Cheers,
Stephen

[telecasterguru]

Mick,
That is a pretty good effort for a first attempt. I got up at 4.30 this morning and wanted to try out my new LPI on Jupiter but unfortunately the large trees in the house behind had already blocked it out.
I hope my first image is as good as the one that you have produced.

Frank

[Quark]

Congratulations on your first planetary image Mick,

If you had been imaging about 4 hours later you would have had the shadow of Ganymede + Ganymede in transit as well as the Wesley Impact.

Well done
Regards
Trevor

[MickOwens]

Thanks Trevor, it would have been nice to get the Wesley Impact in too, hopefully i'll catch it before it fades away..

Frank...all the best with your imaging, hope you manage to catch Jupiter next time.

Stephen..thanks for letting me know it was Ganymede..very proud of myself for catching that so it was good to identify it.

anthony.tony...cheers, much appreciated.

[Mike21]

That's brilliant Mick! You pipped me at the post. I just posted my first planetary image too. You seem to have captured more features with a smaller scope; congrats on your effort.