Jupiter and Moon conjunction – Brisbane 6th August 2016

[Dennis]

From our study window, gazing out west, Jupiter could be seen glowing brightly, just over 1 ½° below a waxing crescent Moon. The moon phase was approx. 12% as the slender crescent dipped towards the light polluted horizon of Brisbane.

The Moon was approx. 3 ½ days old, shining at Magnitude -5.90 in the constellation of Virgo, with an apparent angular size of 30.5', (diameter: 3,476 km) orbiting some 391,281 km from Earth.

Jupiter was positioned in the constellation of Leo, shining at Magnitude -1.75 with an apparent angular diameter of 0° 00' 32" (diameter: 142,984 km) orbiting some 927,500,000 km from Earth.

I could just make out 3 of the 4 Galilean Moons of Jupiter: Europa (M 6.2), Ganymede (M 5.6) and Callisto (M 6.6).

I used a Canon 7D Mk II with Canon 400mm F5.6 telephoto lens, (mounted on a tripod) to grab a series of photos varying from 1/60 sec to 1 sec at ISO 100 and F8. I later combined the frames using a Photoshop and SNS HDR Pro to blend in the enormous brightness range between these celestial objects.


The final composition has been rotated to a landscape orientation. I blended in a previous webcam image of Jupiter in place of the over exposed disc of the planet as a result of recording the Galilean satellites.



Cheers


Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

[Derek Klepp]

Great result Dennis got a quick visual down here.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

Great result Dennis got a quick visual down here.

Thanks David and Derek – it was quite pleasant to just poke the lens out of the study window, hooked up to the PC and grab a few shots. No complex set up or polar alignment required!

Cheers

Dennis