Jupiter and 4 moons

[Joby1kinoby]

Evening all, 

I am so super excited I just had to post about it.

My son and I are still learning how to use the scope properly, we have now managed to line up the red dot finder and are frequently able to view Jupiter and Saturn. We have been trying to take a photo of them (with just a smart phone as funds wont stretch to a camera at the moment), well tonight we have taken this beauty of Jupiter and her 4 moons.

I know it is a bit zoomed out but we are working on how to get a closer shot.

What do you think?

Jo 

[2Karl]

Looks great and I'm sure the photograph does not do the view justice. When you get tired of planets, or just fancy something different, why not try pointing the scope at some double stars?  I always find it a wonderful experience to discover that stars you thought were single points of light with your bare eyes split into two or more when you look through a telescope. Albireo is a favourite of mine, but also check out Epsilon Lyrae and Mizar.

[Rob Sellent]

I think it's the business, Jo. Great to hear that your son and yourself are having such a good time. Look forward to seeing a shot of Saturn

[Demonperformer]

That is a great start - particularly for a "phone against the eyepiece" image. As an interim measure, until you can afford an astro-camera, something like this may be useful - there are lots of options around and I have no idea if this specific one is any good, but I know others on SGL have used something like this very effectively.

[Starwiz]

Well done!  As an interesting exercise, you could note the time you took the photograph, then research on the web to see what position the moons where in at the time of the photo.  This will allow you to identify each of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in your photo.

e.g.  https://s22380.pcdn.co/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html

You'll need to take into account the orientation of the image, if your telescope inverts it, etc.

John

[Joby1kinoby]

7 hours ago, 2Karl said:

Looks great and I'm sure the photograph does not do the view justice. When you get tired of planets, or just fancy something different, why not try pointing the scope at some double stars?  I always find it a wonderful experience to discover that stars you thought were single points of light with your bare eyes split into two or more when you look through a telescope. Albireo is a favourite of mine, but also check out Epsilon Lyrae and Mizar.

Thanks Karl, you're right, it is much better seeing it yourself rather than the photo. We tried that last night, well my son pointed the scope at the brightest light in the sky and it turned out that there were 3 start there, although I could only make out 2, must be my age! lol. I'll try looking at your suggestions.

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Joby1kinoby
wrong name

[Joby1kinoby]

7 hours ago, Rob Sellent said:

I think it's the business, Jo. Great to hear that your son and yourself are having such a good time. Look forward to seeing a shot of Saturn

Thank you Rob, we are struggling with Saturn, when we look we can get a lovely clear view of Saturn and the rings, it's actually amazing, but we can't capture a photo of it, just looks like a blob with a bulge.

[Joby1kinoby]

2 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

That is a great start - particularly for a "phone against the eyepiece" image. As an interim measure, until you can afford an astro-camera, something like this may be useful - there are lots of options around and I have no idea if this specific one is any good, but I know others on SGL have used something like this very effectively.

Thank you, my son made an attachment with his 3D printer, it slots onto the eye piece, it is great at holding the phone in place but it sometimes knocks the telescope a little when we put it on and take it off. I'll see if the one you have suggested looks a better option, although I have seen this camera which seems to have quite good reviews:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GG2EUWO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

 

[Joby1kinoby]

2 hours ago, Starwiz said:

Well done!  As an interesting exercise, you could note the time you took the photograph, then research on the web to see what position the moons where in at the time of the photo.  This will allow you to identify each of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in your photo.

e.g.  https://s22380.pcdn.co/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html

You'll need to take into account the orientation of the image, if your telescope inverts it, etc.

John

Thank you John, I had a look and what a great site that is! I have added the names of the moons to the photo, it's even more exciting knowing where the moons were situated! 

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Joby1kinoby
Wrong photo attached

[Stu]

Great stuff Jo. You've both done a great job with focus and the moons are nice and tight, no wobbling there!

Things to try are to control the exposure better to show up some surface detail on the planet. You will likely loose the moons but there is not much you can do about that.

Do have a look in the Smartphone/tablet section of the imaging forum as there is plenty of help and advice in there. There is also a long thread called 'StuPOD' or similar, basically Stu's Picture Of the Day for smartphones which started out rather tongue in cheek but has lots of good and bad examples of smartphone images.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/279-imaging-smartphone-tablets/

I took this one of Saturn with a smartphone recently, not great but recognisable. Also attached is my best ever Jupiter which shows what cam be achieved, although Jupiter was higher then and I haven't achieved similar results this year.

Depending on what sort of phone you have, there are various apps which help with capture and processing.

Nightcap and Procam 5 are good ones for capture, Snapseed and PS Express work well for processing on your phone.

Have fun out there

Stu

 

[2Karl]

1 hour ago, Joby1kinoby said:

Thank you Rob, we are struggling with Saturn, when we look we can get a lovely clear view of Saturn and the rings, it's actually amazing, but we can't capture a photo of it, just looks like a blob with a bulge.

 

See if your phone has an "advanced camera" setting where you can adjust the exposure time/ISO settings etc. If you reduce the glare you may well get a clearer image, and if possible turn autofocus off and set the manual focus to infinity

[Starwiz]

1 hour ago, Joby1kinoby said:

Thank you John, I had a look and what a great site that is! I have added the names of the moons to the photo, it's even more exciting knowing where the moons were situated! 

 

Looks more impressive and earns you extra kudos points when showing it to family and friends. 😀

John

[Joby1kinoby]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Great stuff Jo. You've both done a great job with focus and the moons are nice and tight, no wobbling there!

Things to try are to control the exposure better to show up some surface detail on the planet. You will likely loose the moons but there is not much you can do about that.

Do have a look in the Smartphone/tablet section of the imaging forum as there is plenty of help and advice in there. There is also a long thread called 'StuPOD' or similar, basically Stu's Picture Of the Day for smartphones which started out rather tongue in cheek but has lots of good and bad examples of smartphone images.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/279-imaging-smartphone-tablets/

I took this one of Saturn with a smartphone recently, not great but recognisable. Also attached is my best ever Jupiter which shows what cam be achieved, although Jupiter was higher then and I haven't achieved similar results this year.

Depending on what sort of phone you have, there are various apps which help with capture and processing.

Nightcap and Procam 5 are good ones for capture, Snapseed and PS Express work well for processing on your phone.

Have fun out there

Stu

 

 

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Great stuff Jo. You've both done a great job with focus and the moons are nice and tight, no wobbling there!

Things to try are to control the exposure better to show up some surface detail on the planet. You will likely loose the moons but there is not much you can do about that.

Do have a look in the Smartphone/tablet section of the imaging forum as there is plenty of help and advice in there. There is also a long thread called 'StuPOD' or similar, basically Stu's Picture Of the Day for smartphones which started out rather tongue in cheek but has lots of good and bad examples of smartphone images.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/279-imaging-smartphone-tablets/

I took this one of Saturn with a smartphone recently, not great but recognisable. Also attached is my best ever Jupiter which shows what cam be achieved, although Jupiter was higher then and I haven't achieved similar results this year.

Depending on what sort of phone you have, there are various apps which help with capture and processing.

Nightcap and Procam 5 are good ones for capture, Snapseed and PS Express work well for processing on your phone.

Have fun out there

Stu

 

Wow Stu, those are fantastic photos with a smart phone, my aim now is to achieve the same, I'll take a look at those apps. I', using a Samsung galaxy S8 and whatever my sons phone is, think he also has a Samsung. I wouldn't mind losing the moons if I could see that much detail. 

I have been using a 10mm lens, am I right in thinking if i add others to it, I will just keep on getting a more detailed view? Might seem like a stupid question but I am really just starting out

Jo

 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Joby1kinoby

[Stu]

Mine is an S9, but the S8 should still be good. Which scope does your son have? That would help to know so we know what magnification makes sense to use.

At the moment the planets are quite low and the views are very dependent on how stable the atmosphere is. Last night for instance was very poor and there was little detail to be seen, but on Monday the seeing was very good, excellent even and I got lively views of Jupiter.

It may be worth trying the Moon which is at a nice phase currently as it is much easier to practise focus and exposure on it.

[MarsG76]

Great start.. these images are always going to have a sentimental meaning to you and your son as you upgrade your equipment and get more detailed and bigger images in the future.

[Joby1kinoby]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Mine is an S9, but the S8 should still be good. Which scope does your son have? That would help to know so we know what magnification makes sense to use.

At the moment the planets are quite low and the views are very dependent on how stable the atmosphere is. Last night for instance was very poor and there was little detail to be seen, but on Monday the seeing was very good, excellent even and I got lively views of Jupiter.

It may be worth trying the Moon which is at a nice phase currently as it is much easier to practise focus and exposure on it.

It is my telescope, even though my son would like to think he owns it lol. It's a Skywatcher Explorer 130M.  We have the following lenses, 10mm, 12.5mm, 20mm, a super 25 wide angle and a 2 x barlow lens, plus somthing I founf from an old scope from years ago, have no clue what magnification it is lol.

We have seen a lot more detail on the moon this week, I compared it to a photo we took exactly a year ago and it was so much better. Shows that we are getting a little more experienced lol. We will have to play around with the lenses to see how much detail we can get. This is what we have got so far: