Wednesday 10 April 2013

Astronomy News: Last Chance to See Jupiter

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system with its distinctive pattern of red and white bands, will cease to be visible from our latitude at the end of April and won't reappear until August.


Image from the BRT

Don't worry though! With the Telescope taking pictures every night there are still plenty of chances to get that amazing shot before the end of the month. For some great pictures, why not try one of these? Use Galaxy cam for all of these shots.

Jupiter in H-Alpha and OIII

Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the night sky so using no filter or one of our filters that let's through a lot of light such as BVR colour just results in an over exposed image. Using a Hydrogen Alpha or Oxygen III filter cuts out enough of the light so that you can clearly see Jupiter's bands. They will both give you slightly different views because of the different colours of gases in the bands so why not try both and see which you prefer.

An exposure time of 100ms will give you a nice clear shot such as this one.

Taken by the BRT using OIII and an exposure time of 100ms

Due to the extreme turbulence in Earth's atmosphere it is often a matter of luck as to whether the bands are clear enough to be photographed. To makes sure you get a good image, try taking several in one night with slightly different settings e.g. 99ms, 101ms. This is because the Telescope is clever enough that if you request five images at 100ms it will just take one.

Jupiter and its moons

Jupiter is so bright that it is not possible to take a picture in which you can both see the bands of Jupiter and its moons. However, if you over expose Jupiter itself, you can get some really lovely shots of its moons spread out to either side of it.

Taken by the BRT using BVR and an exposure of 30ms

Use the Clear or BVR colour filters and set the exposure time to 20 - 30ms. You should be able to see up to four of Jupiter's largest moons; Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa.





2 comments:

  1. I read in the SAN magazine that there will be nice triangle formed (UK visible) on the 26th May (ideal time 22:00 BST) of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury. The three can be tracked from the 12th as they move into position.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always get valuable astronomical news here. Keep posting such an informative articles...astronomy news

    ReplyDelete