Jupiter and Moons

[Oliver Gigacz]

I am completely new to astronomy and am waiting on some better equipment but tonight I decided to see the best shot I could get of Jupiter and her moons. I used a Canon 450D with a 300mm focal length and a shutter speed of 0"8. And this is what I got. Is there any way I can improve while I am waiting for the other equipment?

[renormalised]

Welcome to IIS:D

Yes....reduce that shutter speed and make your exposures short. Take about 15-30 exposures, stack them with a program like this DeepSkyStacker (http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html), then process your image in a program like Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or GIMP (or whataver you can get and use). You should get a nice, albeit small, image out of it:D

Also important...try and get good focus.

[Oliver Gigacz]

How short should the exposure be?

[renormalised]

1/25th to 1/50th sec is the usual time , but I suggest you have a bit of a play around with the exposure timings. You have to remember that Jupiter is a very bright target and it doesn't take much to overexpose the subject.

[Oliver Gigacz]

What ISO should I have and f stop?