First Jupiter and moons

[ThomasBR]

This is my first Jupiter and moons. It is not taken with a webcam as my original plan was to image M31 with my dSLR but cloud cover made that impossible so I just tried a shot at Jupiter (I still ned to figure out how to mount my Creative Notebook Cam). Even though Jupiter is quite overexposed I think the moons look nice (if they all are in fact moons??).

[tyler_jrb]

yes they are all moons, great shot of them although too bad there isnt any detail on jupiter but still very nice. I looked at jupiter the first time in my 6" scope last night and was very impressed even though it was quite low and I was viewing in my room which was very hot. I was getting ready for bed and just thought i might aswell have a look. It wasnt the best conditions as i was looking through a window and de-focusing you could clearly see the heat from the house affecting the view but I clearly saw the two bandings on jupiter at both 48x and 100x. Cant wait untill I actually go out let the scope cool properly, let it become a little higher and then take a look at jupiter. Have a GSO 2x barlow which can become 1.5x soon so will be able to see it bigger and at variable magnifications at best 100x, 150x and 200x, Should be much better and gives me a choice. Tyler b.

[Clayton]

As you have stated, Jupiter is over exposed, you might find that using a capture program with a histogram function eg. wxAstroCapture will help.

wxAstroCapture - Windows and linuX Astronomy Capture

Try to fill the histogram to about 80%-90% (values over 200 is a good start) you can shorten the exposure or drop the gain to reduce the histogram values (make sure to deselect Auto Exposure control)

A bit more scale wouldn't hurt either (not sure if you used the barlow or not??) if you used the Barlow already then an extension tube between the Barlow and the camera can give you a bit more scale, and also knock a bit of brightness from Jupiter.

[Bumfluff]

Hi, that's a great first pic, and yes they are moons, The Galilean moons which are the largest 4. Still amazes me to think they were discovered in 1610.

Galilean moons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ThomasBR]

Thanks for the comments and suggetstions! I did try to take pictures with much shorter exposure time but Jupiter was just a smal yellowish blob on the dSLR sensor - I guess thats why webcams are good for planetary imaging ;-) As far as I remmember I used the 2x (kit) Barlow for the image.

In the scope I could see two of the gas belts. I plan to get a stronger Barlow and/or a shorter focal length EP (FLO has a Celestron X-cel 5mm on offer right now which I a,m considering).