Jupiter in 2001 to 2002

11 Apr 2002

Io Ganymede Jupiter with shadow of Ganymede

Jupiter, with Io, Ganymede and the shadow of Ganymede in transit across the face of Jupiter. 11 Apr 2002, 21:11 to 21:25BST (20:11 to 20:25UT) My first attempt at catching Jupiter by attaching my digital camera to the telescope, and I am well pleased with the result. Atmospheric quality wasn't too good so I have averaged several shots to make this composite. The dark Equatorial cloud belts are prominent and the North Temperate belt is just visible (as is astronomical convention, north is to the bottom and east to the right). The sun is shining slightly from the left so the right of Jupiter has more shadow, and Ganymede casts its shadow into the planet. If anybody was standing there they would experience an eclipse of the sun by Ganymede. Io, a smaller moon, is further to the left - although it orbits nearer to Jupiter than does Ganymede, the latter looks nearer because it is more in our line of sight. Minolta Dimage 7, 49.1mm, afocal projection using 25mm eyepiece on 8.75inch f/7.3 Newtonian telescope. 1/15s @ f/14, running at ISO400. Scale of 0.3 arc second (= approx. 1300km) per pixel. 18 pictures stacked with Astrostack v0.9 using Mean mode.

23 Apr 2002

Jupiter Io Callisto

Jupiter, with Io and Callisto; 23 Apr 2002, 21:33 to 21:36BST (20:33 to 20:36UT) Jupiter's innermost moon, Io is heading from right to left and was scheduled to begin a transit across the face of Jupiter in half an hour. Io is a hellish world that sports many volcanoes caused by tidal heating as it is pulled back and forth in Jupiter's gravitational field by the other moons. Their sulphurous eruptions give the moon a yellowish colour, which is just visible in this picture. The transit was missed on this occasion as Jupiter disappeared behind trees before the event started. Minolta Dimage 7, 49.1mm, afocal projection using 25mm eyepiece on 8.75inch f/7.3 Newtonian telescope. 1/15s @ f/14, running at ISO400. Scale of 0.3 arc second (= approx. 1300km) per pixel. 11 pictures stacked with Astrostack v0.9 using Mean mode.

24 Apr 2002

Jupiter; 24 Apr 2002, 21:52 to 21:55BST (20:52 to 20:55UT) I have applied an unsharp mask technique to increase the contrast of Jupiter's weather patterns. The two dark Equatorial cloud belts show some detail, best seen if you sit back from the screen. The North Temperate Belt lies below the NEB, and the darker North and South Polar Regions show up well. Minolta Dimage 7, 49.1mm, afocal projection using 25mm eyepiece on 8.75inch f/7.3 Newtonian telescope. 1/15s @ f/14, running at ISO400. Scale of 0.3 arc second (= approx. 1300km) per pixel. 14 pictures stacked with Astrostack v0.9 using Mean mode.

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