Jupiter

Ok, this is my very first time to try photographing something like Jupiter. I have done a little with the Milky Way, but that was actually fairly straight forward because I had time to plan and research.

This shot of Jupiter was one of those spur of the moment shots. Actually, this is a composite of two shots so that I could get a properly exposed planet and three moons in the same shot. Jupiter was low to the horizon, so I would have been better off if I had waited until later in the evening, but, again, this was just a shot that came from a conversation that went like this:

Friend: "Hey, I wonder what that star is?"
Me: "Dunno, can someone check an app?"
Friend (checking app): "It is Jupiter."
Me: "Cool. Let me see if I can get a shot of it and see how it comes out."

I could see the moons on my camera screen, but I didn't know that I could see the bands on Jupiter until I looked at the photos on my computer screen. The two photos were cropped close to 100% and combined in Photoshop Elements.

Canon 7D, Sigma 150-600 C.
Jupiter: 600mm, iso 400, f/8, 1/60 sec
Moons: 600mm, iso 3200, f/6.3, 1/10 sec

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/E8Wp​a8

That's not half-bad for just as single image frame. Especially at 600mm and then cropped in.

If you shoot somewhere around 30-60 seconds worth of video (and preferably reduce the video size down to 640x480 -- I know that may sound strange but it actually does work better) then you can convert the video to .AVI files and then feed them to something like Registax or AutoStakkert2 (both are free and do planetary image stacking).

The atmosphere distorts tiny objects like this so that no single frame would typically be clear (it would if the camera wasn't trying to shoot through an atmosphere). But with enough samples, usually bits of each image will have areas that are clear and those can be combined to create a resulting image which is much sharper than any single image.

There are numerous YouTube tutorials on how to use these applications -- they look a bit daunting when you first open them, but after watching a tutorial video and doing it a few times it starts to make sense and you realize it's actually not very difficult.

Thanks T. I may try that at some point.

Tim

Hahha.
Actually you did excellent for a first timer.
Tim gave you good advise and there are plenty of recent discussions on the subject with good info for DIY, if you make a search in this forum.
All I can bug here is the orientation that is not correct. Currently bands are obliquely oriented if you are a resident of USA, shooting from Tx.
Jupiter's main plant exposure is actually quite short with relatively low ISO, say 1/125 and ISO 200 with bracketing. Elevation and type of your atmosphere has a lot to do here too.
But for the moons you need to boost up the ISO significantly, overexposing the J but getting a nice motionless moons.
Also note that even arrangement of moons in the same night are different so shot more, shoot often for the best result and a composite image as you did, is the best way to show it all and neat.
Clear, dark, cloudless nights to all.

samsen wrote in post #17919438
Hahha.
Actually you did excellent for a first timer.

Thanks!

Hmm. That is how it was oriented in the camera. I found that odd myself and a little googling suggested that that is the normal position of the bands shortly after the planet rises in the east and that the orientation of the bands changes as the planet rises. I'm confused, but not overly worried about it. I'm used to that feeling!

Tim

If I may add a comment here about orientation of the moons and Jupiter . The Planets all follow the astronomy Ecliptic line , everything rises in the East and settles in the west , proven factor . All planets that have moons rotate around their mother planet just like our moon does rotate around earth .

Now , a point to ponder and remember . Earths moon also follows the Ecliptic line . Important point is the moons of the Planets altho they rotate their mother planet also follows the Ecliptic line as they rotate their mother planet . Therefore when all planets rise in the east it's only natural to know they will be orientated correctly with the Ecliptic line as in the image that Orogeny posted . He did say they were close to the horizon as they rose from the east , right ?

Now to prove this point . Let's say you have your scope polar aligned correctly . Jupiter is overhead straight up . You turn you scope and point it at Jupiter coming up in the east . When you look in the EP the image of Jupiter will look like the image above . As Jupiter continues to rise and reaches zenith it will still look like the image above only turned 90 degs CW . As your scope tracks Jupiter the bands will stay in this position except they will look different as Jupiter rotates on it's axes and the moons will move cause of rotation around Jupiter . BUT.... they all will still be lined up as the image above or as you can say aligned with the Ecliptic line . As Jupiter gets closer to the western horizon in the scope it will remain the same view as long as you have not adjusted the EP in the scope to a different angle only it will be reversed 180-deg CW from the image above . But as mentioned the moons will be in different places and the bands of Jupiter will look different as the planet rotates . But The bands of Jupiter and the moons of Jupiter will still be aligned with the Ecliptic line .

Another point to ponder and remember . When I speak of the Ecliptic line used in astronomy terms , this is a imaginary line in space used by astronomy to equally divide the sky above same as the equater is used to divide the earth hemisphere from the north and south . But even tho imaginary the Ecliptic line is real and the way to prove it is by imaging the western horizon in a star trail image and you will see that in the center stars will seem to travel straight in the ecliptic line but will start to have a curved affect to the north and to the south of the ecliptic line .

Last but least even tho the planets follow the Ecliptic line.... , don't expect or think they will be perfectly centered on the ecliptic line . None follow perfectly , they will either be south or north of the Ecliptic line by a certain amount of degrees . So when looking for a planet if your following a star map with locations look for a star that is close to the ecliptic line that is very well know like Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation . It's just a few degs from the ecliptic line and that is a pointer to help find planets when looking at a star map .

Sorry for all the rambling on but I just wanted to help with clarification of the orientation of the image above cause being Jupiter rising from the east the camera should be turned up on it's side on a tripod for correct orientation in the camera .

I love your photo of Jupiter... I have been trying to image it again without the Moon and I simply can't get it in focus. Yesterday I must have taken over 80 shots and none of them I liked. If the cloud cover allows it, I will try again tonight and use my mask on Sirius before I move to Jupiter.

Danny

Here is a photo I just took about an hour ago. Other than a crop, no other changes were made. I was able to get it in focus by using the mask on Sirius. I imaged Jupiter about 20 times and I will be attempting to stack them in order to increase the details.

Danny

Here is the image processed using, in that order:

1. PIPP
2. AutoStakkert_2.6.1.4

I toned down the brightness with Photoshop CC. Personally, I don't like it at all. It looks too cartoonish, a drawing even.

I attempted to use Photoshop to do the stacking but my computer grinds to a halt when loading layers so I had to use pan B.

Danny