Solar System
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot - This is an image of Jupiter made during a transit of the Great Red Spot on the evening of December 1. 2011. The Great Red Spot is a persistent hurricane-like storm that has been evident in the atmosphere of Jupiter for nearly 200 years. Its diameter is over twice the diameter of the earth.
Telescope: Meade 8" LX200R Camera: Olympus C-765 @ 10X zoom mounted afocally to 15 mm Plossl eyepiece Effective focal length and focal ratio: 8400 mm and f/42 Exposures: Quicktime movie @ 15 frames/sec; 1000 frames aligned and stackedwith Keith's Image Stacker |
Saturn - Fortunately we had a relatively clear and steady night in PA when Saturn was just past opposition. Though this image is a bit fuzzy, it does show the Cassini division in the rings, the cloud bands on the planet and the planet's shadow on the rings. Saturn was magnitude 1.2 and had an angular diameter of 18.8 arc-seconds when this image was made.
Telescope: Meade 8" LX200R Camera: Olympus C-765 @ 10X zoom mounted afocally to 15 mm Plossl eyepiece Effective focal length and focal ratio: 8400 mm and f/42 Exposures: Quicktime movie @ 15 frames/sec; approximately 1900 frames aligned and stacked with Keith's Image Stacker |
Mars - Mars was just past its closest point to Earth this time around, but was still only 13.6 arc seconds in diameter. Even so, and with skies that were not too steady, I was able to capture some surface features. A good explanation of these features can be found in a Sky and Telescope article by Daniel M. Troiani (see http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/3307776.html?page=4&c=y ). The location of the orographic cloud in this image makes it highly likely that it was generated by the Martian atmosphere flowing over Elysium Mons, a 14 km high volcano in the Elysium plain (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_Mons ).
Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS Camera: Olympus C-765 @ 10X zoom mounted afocally to 15 mm Plossl eyepiece Exposures: Quicktime movie @ 15 frames/sec; about 500 frames stacked |
Transits of Venus, 2004 and 2012 - The top image is of the transit of Venus across the sun on June 8, 2004 and the bottom image is of the transit on June 5, 2012. (I know, the only evident difference is that my astrophotography skills have improved in the interim.) Transits of Venus are rare because the orbital planes of Venus and the earth are tilted with respect to one another, making it unusual that the earth, Venus and the sun line up. These transits occur in pairs separated by 8 years and the pairs are separated from each other by either 105.5 years or 121.5 year. The last pair of transits before these occurred in 1874 and 1882; there were none in the 20th century. I have been fortunate to image both of the 21st century transits. At my location in Lancaster County, PA, the transit of 2004 ended a couple of hours after sunrise on June 8 and the transit of 2012 began a couple of hours before sunset on June 5. Clouds obscured much of the 2012 transit; this image is the one (of about 40) that had the least cloud obscuration.
Another thing to notice is that the solar surface is essentially devoid of sunspots during the 2004 transit. There is one region of faint sunspot activity, NOAA solar active region 0627, visible above Venus and just below the center of the sun. At this time in 2004 the sun was headed toward a sunspot minimum. During the 2012 transit there are numerous regions of sunspot activity as the sun heads toward a sunspot maximum. For the 2004 transit: Telescope: Meade ETX-60 with Baader film solar filter Camera: Canon S110 mounted afocally to 24 mm eyepiece For the 2012 transit: Telescope: Meade ETX-125 with Baader film solar filter Camera: Olympus C-765 mounted afocally to 40 mm eyepiece |
Comet Lovejoy - Officially designated C/2014Q2, this bright comet was discovered by Tom Lovejoy on August 17, 2014 when it had a magnitude of 14.8. This image was taken on January 17, 2015 when the magnitude was 5.1, visible to the naked eye in a dark sky. The bright region around the comet, the coma, was almost as large as a full moon at this time. The comet made its closest approach to the sun on January 30, 2015 at a distance of 1.3 times the distance from the earth to the sun.
Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/2 with Hyperstar 3 Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: None Exposure: 5 X 1 minutes = 5 min |
Comet Garradd - Officially designated Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) it is seen in the two images above when it is about twice as far from the sun as the earth. In the top image, which is one 2.5 minute exposure, it is passing the globular cluster, M71, in Sagitta on August 26, 2011. In the bottom image, which is 15 2-minute exposures centered on the comet and stacked, it is seen moving through the constellation Delphinus on August 22, 2011. At the times of these images it was about magnitude 8, and it will reach its brightest at about magnitude 7 in February, 2012. It will not get very close to the sun, its closest approach occurring on December 23, 2011 at a distance of 1.55 times the distance from the earth to the sun.
Telescope: Meade 8" LX200R @ f/7 with an Astro-Physics 0.67X telecompressor Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Orion ST-80 with Meade DSI using PHD |