July 3rd, hi res Mars, fair Saturn & a PB for Jupiter at 24 degrees alt.
Hi All,
Imaged Mars early last night and have attached 1 RGB 7 807nm IR data set. At 6.5" it is becoming a challenge but I have some nice hi res detail that stood up well to the 1.5 drizzle plus further resizing.
Moved on to Saturn in quite fast & variable seeing but still revealed structure within the great storm remnant and faint white spots within the NEB. Have attached 1 807nm IR, RGB & "R" channel data set along with an animation of all R channel data.
Imaged Jupiter this morning in better seeing than I have had thus far this Jupiter season.
My 807nm IR data came up rather well as did the RGB 's. Have attached 1 807nm IR & RGB data set. The RGB is a new personal best for me for a planetary RGB image at 24 degrees alt.
It is very pleasing to resolve the line of tiny white ovals in the STB above oval BA, it is really interesting to blink the final RGB & IR images regarding the colour of oval BA and the GRS. Oval BA really is a different colour to any of the other features, almost salmon.There is an interesting dark, elongated spot trailing oval BA in the STrZ.
The SEB following the GRS is quite disturbed with a prominent feature running longitudinally through it. The EZ also looks disturbed to some extent and I note a thin strip of pink running through it in the RGB. The NEB is chaotic with very prominent dark features along its Southern edge while the Northern edge of, I think, the NTB is showing a quite thin dark band.
Honestly, I didn't know where to make a start with my limited description of the detail, there is so much, yep I am excited.
Have also attached an animation of the 807nm IR data.
Trevor these are fantastic images - especially Mars and Jupiter. Thankyou very much for showing these! I was imaging the same things last night and will post when ready - although no where near the detail you have got.
Good on ya Trevor, I can feel the excitement. Appreciate the views. Mars at 6.5" is still showing a heap of detail, plus Jupiter=amazing. All the best.
Trevor these are fantastic images - especially Mars and Jupiter. Thankyou very much for showing these! I was imaging the same things last night and will post when ready - although no where near the detail you have got.
Cheers,
Tom
Thanks very much Tom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lester
Good on ya Trevor, I can feel the excitement. Appreciate the views. Mars at 6.5" is still showing a heap of detail, plus Jupiter=amazing. All the best.
Thanks very much Lester, reckon the neighbors might have heard me on this morning. Richard McKim from the BAA and Chris Pellier both picked up on the white cloud feature on the terminator down by the North Pole. They tell me it is significant, a Polar Cyclonic cloud and that the HST saw such a feature in 1997 & 1999.
Quote:
Originally Posted by batema
Stunning images. I love them.
Thanks very much batema.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StephenM
Another great set Trevor, amazing detail on Jupiter considering it was at 24 degrees!
Cheers,
Stephen
Thanks very much Stephen, this apparition Jupiter only rises to 35 degrees alt for my location and I was thinking it would be a very poor season for me but this data at 24 degrees give me hope that I still may be able to contribute some hi res data.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Great selection Trevor, can't get over the detail visible in a 6" Martian disc either
Mike
Thanks very much Mike, must say I more or less had given Mars away, as a target and have been concentrating on Saturn, trying to follow the evolution of last years great storm remnant and the new chaotic disturbances on Jupiter in the NEB & NTB following Solar conjunction. I was really surprised that my Mars data stood up to so much resampling up, to get a reasonable size image while still conserving so much detail. The director of the BAA Mars section was pretty chuffed with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis
Hi Trevor
Phew, at only 6.5” the Mars image is stunning. An excellent Saturn and the Jupiter animation is something special. Top stuff Trevor, as usual!
Cheers
Dennis
Thanks very much Dennis, it's always a pleasure to process nice data and I do enjoy putting together animation. The Jupiter animation really demonstrated how the seeing improved as Jupiter rose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiraz
great images Trevor - excellent. regards ray
Thanks very much Ray, I am a bit late replying to this thread, I have had a run of reasonable weather and all I have been doing is capturing data and processing it ever since July 3rd. Most days I have just finished posting to the BAA, ALPO, ALPO Japan, PVOL, JUPOS and my research teams when its been time to start doing it all again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skysurfer
Nice pictures !
Only Uranus and Neptune missing .... (visible in the Morning sky).
Hi sky surfer, just wouldn't be enough hours in the day to process the lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffkop
What a great set of images ... Up there with some of the best ive seen.
The most detail I think ive seen of Mars.
great work trevor you must have awesome horizons to be able to record all 3 planets in the same night!!!! How do you manage to get all your tracking and alignments ready to go before mars and saturn Set?
great work trevor you must have awesome horizons to be able to record all 3 planets in the same night!!!! How do you manage to get all your tracking and alignments ready to go before mars and saturn Set?
Thanks very much Mark, my scope is mounted on a very heavy GEM in my observatory. When I am imaging I start by collimating my scope with it in the position it will be when I acquire my target and fire up my peltier cooler at least 2 hours prior to imaging (that is when I am imaging in the twilight just after Sunset). I am imaging Mars still at a good alt, approx 54 degrees, by doing so in the twilight. Then I move on to Saturn, which means I still get it before culmination, so at approx 64 degrees.
Great images Trevor, especially for an early Jupiter. That is some useful data.
-Ivan
Thanks very much Ivan, there is considerable interest by many planetary physicists regarding the current chaotic activity on Jupiter. Thus far there has only been one team, that I know of, awarded time to image it with a major telescope (NASA's IRTF in Hawaii) and that data was 5 micron thermal data. They are relying on amateur visible light data in the main, to follow the progress of this evolving state of activity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
Lovely work as per usual Trev, wish I had more time to devote to planetary, but DSO is calling.
Thanks very much Paul, as you well know it does require a considerable time commitment to do this. I am very fortunate that I am retired and can put the effort in. Must say that at the moment, reckon I am running on just about empty but there is a change in the weather coming next week and I just cant waste the clear sky and reasonable seeing that is currently over Broken Hill. I very much admire your deep sky work and would love to be able to produce stuff like that, back in 2008 I even lashed out on a 450D with that in mind. Problem is, if I have clear sky and Saturn or Jove are about, I have this compulsion to image them. Cheryl says I am obsessed, reckon she's spot on.
