Moon and Jupiter, QHY8

Skyglow and or moonlight make it impossible to image the typical astronomical objects. Skyglow can be avoided with a drive of up to a few hours from the nearest city, and moon light is accommodated my observing prior to moon rise and after moon set.

Fortunately, there are many objects which are able to punch through skyslow, the planets, Mercury to Saturn are in this group, and the moon its self is a worthy target.

Astronomical Seeing, which is a measure of the steadiness of the atmosphere to light rays, is the next critical aspect of a evenings conditions.

Moon


Comments

This image is to the same scale as the images posted below of the Dumbbell and Trifid Nebula. This can give you an idea of the size of the less familiar astronomical objects. Seeing was good this evening. I am not very skilled at scoring seeing, but I can detect a better than average night from a poor night. On this night, the moon`s surface features were very stable in the C11 at f/10 and a 20mm eyepiece which is moderate magnification.

The screen slot below is from the Starry Night Pro program and shows the moon at the approximate time the image was taken. Also shown is the expected field of view of the 10D or QHY8 sensor on the Celestron C11 telescope.



Object Info

The Earth's natural satellite is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System.


Field Details
Date/Location: Monday August 31, 2009, 10:30pm at Ottawa Ontario
Instrument: QHY8, through Celestron SCT C11 w/o Focal Reduction
Filters: None
Mount: Celestron CGE
Focal Ratio: Imaging at f/10
Guiding: non-guided
Conditions: Visually clear with moderate humidity
Weather: 15 deg. C
Exposure: less than 1 minute total in 10 x 0.02sec exposures (Gain 0 Offset 65)
Focusing: Imaging with Stark Labs Nebulosity 2.0 (HFR 2.6 typical)
Image Capture: Imaging with Stark Labs Nebulosity 2.0 (10 exposures taken)
Autoguiding: none

Exposure Details and Processing
Stacking: 10 of 10
Pixel Math: Zero Mean applied
Levels/Stretch: Done in Neb2
Binning: none


Jupiter and Moons


Comments

Again, this image is to the same scale as the images posted above and below, of the Dumbbell and Trifid Nebula. This can give you an idea of the size of the less familiar astronomical objects.

Object Info

There are several prediction tools on the web which will indicate the position of the Jovian moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. For this image to go http://www.shallowsky.com/jupiter/ and enter the time string, Mon Aug 31 2009 20:43:08 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

Click on the image above and see if you can see the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Although the great red spot was expected to be visible I can not convince myself that is it evident on this rather poor image of the planet its self.

On better nights I have been able to see the shadow of a moon on the planet surface.


Field Details
Date/Location: Monday August 31, 2009, 11:00pm at Ottawa Ontario
Instrument: QHY8, through Celestron SCT C11 w/o Focal Reduction
Filters: None
Mount: Celestron CGE
Focal Ratio: Imaging at f/10
Guiding: non-guided
Conditions: Visually clear with moderate humidity
Weather: 15 deg. C
Exposure: less than 1 minute total in 10 x 0.02sec exposures (Gain 0 Offset 65)
Focusing: Imaging with Stark Labs Nebulosity 2.0 (HFR 2.6 typical)
Image Capture: Imaging with Stark Labs Nebulosity 2.0 (10 exposures taken)
Autoguiding: none

Exposure Details and Processing
Stacking: 10 of 10
Pixel Math: Zero Mean applied
Levels/Stretch: Done in Neb2
Binning: none