On Jupiter’s Moons

This is a random setup shot through the 200mm lens where I was using jupiter to set my aim. It’s 1 second f/4 ISO 6400. It amuses me that Jupiter’s moons show so well. If you look at the inset you can see io, Ganymede, and Callisto. I checked against stellarium and they are the right distance from the planet – Callisto being 6′(arc minutes) which translates to 80-odd pixels in the image. The moons are all around magnitude 5 which makes them naked eye visible but I guess without a telescope they’d be lost in Jupiter’s brightness.

Scorpio Rising Over Haystack Rock

These were done at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach Oregon using the Canon T3i with the 18-55mm kit lens. Both are f/4 28mm, the first one is 4 seconds at ISO 1600, the second one 6 seconds at 3200 – it was also a few minutes later and the light was fading.

Saturn!

19-07-09 saturn
These were done around 10 pm July 9,2017. Camera was set at ISO 100, 1/50 sec, f/6.5. Zoom was at max optical and 4 X digital(gives a “focal length” figure of 1428). The picture size was set at 2272X1704 to reduce the effect of digital zoom. The planet with rings occupies about 100X55 pixels. These were cropped and brightened with paint shop pro +21 brightness, +21 contrast. If I do it again I’ll go up to 200 ISO.
19-07-09 jupiter 1731
The Jupiters were done at full optical zoom. The three larger ones were 2X digital zoom with picture size at 4608X3456. The smaller were 3X digital but with the picture size cut to 2272X1704. The settings were ISO 100, f/6.5. The first four at 1/60 sec, the last three at 1/100. Jupiter is 100X100 in the larger ones, 60X60 in the smaller. The images haven’t been brightened.

I would say the digital zoom might be worthwhile but cutting down the picture size is no benefit. I’ve just discovered the camera had adjustments for sharpening etc. These would have more effect on star photos but i’ll try neutralizing them.

It occurs to me also that saturn has a ton of moons. They are dimmer than jupiter’s in the mag 8-9 range which might just be visible in a long exposure.

Venus and Mars are Out Tonight (well, Jupiter really and it was yesterday morning)

19-03-22 jup 62 63 64 74

These shots of Jupiter are about equivalent to what i got on my first try. Leftmost two are ISO 100 f8 1/60, the brighter one one is ISO 400, and the last one is ISO 400 but 1/200 sec. In my imagination I can see banding on all of them. Jupiter was quite high in the sky(almost 40 degrees) and seemed clear to the naked eye.

19-03-22 venus 56 57 59 60

Venus remains a sh*tshow although the overexposed one is pretty. The first one is ISO 6400 f8 1/200 sec, the others are ISO 100 f8 1/200, 1/1000, 1/500. Venus was very bright but low(16 degrees) and starting to get lost in the sun.

Jupiter Late Night

19-03-08 jupiter body This is Jupiter around 3 this morning taken at ISO 400 f7.1 1/200 second more-or-less fully zoomed. I’m pleased that it shows some banding on the planet and the colour looks right.

19-03-08 honest moons This is overexposed at ISO 6400, f5.6 1/2 sec and it’s only half zoomed but it shows the 4 gallilean moons well. I found as soon as i went down in exposure i started to lose the moons which were the whole point of the shot.

Below is from Javascript Jupiter set to the same time showing the moons more-or-less as i caught them.

19-03-08 javajupiter

The two shots below were taken at lower exposures – the left one is ISO 400, f5.6, 1/2 sec. The right one is ISO 3200 f7 1/200 sec. In both cases I’m starting to lose the moons but jupiter is still way overexposed.

Below is the best full-zoom video that i got. not sure if it’s worth trying to process it.

Jupiter and Ganymede

19-03-05 ganymede
This unimpressive specimen is the planet Jupiter and its largest moon Ganymede (dull fuzzy thing in the bottom left). It’s pathetic but it’s the first time i’ve gotten anything even remotely usable. It’s a single frame extracted from a wobbly video taken after the spacex launch around 3 am march 2 2019.

19-03-05-javascript-jupiter
I know it’s ganymede by reference to javascript jupiter animation of the system at the same time. The reason my image is tilted is that I’m tilted by virtue of being down at 27 degrees latitude.

19-03-05 better moons

This is an image from a nikon forum. It was taken at ISO 400, f8 1/2 second. The recommendations on the forum was to go down to 1/100 of a sec at f7 ISO 400 and try lower ISO’s.

They ref this page for an example and quote settings of 1/200th @ f6.5 ISO100 at 357mm(which is not very zoomed). That image shows a decent (small) image of jupiter but no moons.

People do stack videos to enhance them but i don’t think my starting quality is worth the trouble. My main problem is that i was wobbling all over the place trying to center the planet. My tripod is light and at full zoom the heavy lens is unbalanced and causes a droop. I have a better mount coming today so i hope to try again tomorrow night.

I’m going to try for some still images at ISO 400, f8, 1/2 sec and go down from there all the way to 1/200 f6.5 ISO 100 less zoom and then i’ll try a minute of video at various zooms – this all hinges on being able to center and hold the planet.

Plan A:
As much zoom as I can
ISO f-stop shutter
400 f8 1/2
1/10
1/100
f7
200 f8 1/100
100 f6.5 1/200
a minute of video

less zoom and repeat