Jupiter with GRS and Europa - 27 Oct 2023 (a taster image)

[geoflewis]

I was out again imaging Jupiter for 3.75 hours capturing the GRS almost limb to limb and almost all of the Europa and it's shadow transits. During the session I captured 132 x 1m SER videos, totalling 330GB of data...!! I had to stop when my imaging laptop SDD was full, but by then the transparancy was getting very poor due to thickening clouds. I'd been capturing between and through variable cloud much of the session, but the seeing was good, so I thought it was worth persevering. Here are examples of what I was imaging through...

No way would any DSO imager capture during those conditions.....

....but, I promised a taster image, so here is what I got from the best 2000 frames from a single 1m SER.

It's a little soft and noisy, but the GRS is in full view, Europa just made contact and it's shadow is already transiting. The resolution should improve once I've processed a bunch of SERs then stacked and derotated the resulting TIFFs. I'm looking to put the best from ~15 videos into each image, so +/-30k frames each. If all goes well I might also produce a rotation GIF of the entire session. This lot is going to keep me busy a couple of days I think, not least cleaning up the smeared Europa & shadow transits after derotation; hence the taster image....

Thanks for looking and watch this space.....

[bosun21]

Great image especially under subpar conditions.

[Barv]

Well done Geof! I admire your patience! I've never bothered attempting to image under those sort of skies before personally😉

[tooth_dr]

@geoflewis amazing detail. Do you track on Jupiter?

[geoflewis]

15 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Great image especially under subpar conditions.

1 minute ago, Barv said:

Well done Geof! I admire your patience! I've never bothered attempting to image under those sort of skies before personally😉

Thanks both, I probably also wouldn't image in those conditions, but It's the 1st time I've caught the GRS early in it's transition and the seeing was pretty good, so with Europa also in play, I just kept going. As it's been said before, it's the seeing that really matters for planetary imaging, so good seeing with poor transparency always trumps great transparency in poor seeing. There were a few times when I was ready to pack up, but looking over the observatory wall kept promising another clear patch, so well what can I say, I just kept going.....

 

[geoflewis]

5 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

@geoflewis amazing detail. Do you track on Jupiter?

Thanks Adam,

No I don't track, I just sit by the scope and give the mount an occasional nudge with the HC to correct any slight drift. The AP1200 is a sterling, if somewhat vintage, mount with very low PE so it tracks very well on it's own.

[Barv]

9 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Thanks both, I probably also wouldn't image in those conditions, but It's the 1st time I've caught the GRS early in it's transition and the seeing was pretty good, so with Europa also in play, I just kept going. As it's been said before, it's the seeing that really matters for planetary imaging, so good seeing with poor transparency always trumps great transparency in poor seeing. There were a few times when I was ready to pack up, but looking over the observatory wall kept promising another clear patch, so well what can I say, I just kept going.....

 

Of course Geof! I wasn't being critical, I really admire your patience and enthusiasm, and as you say, you never really know if it's gonna get better or not. I look forward to hopefully seeing the Gifs. 

Best

Harvey

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Barv said:

Of course Geof! I wasn't being critical, I really admire your patience and enthusiasm, and as you say, you never really know if it's gonna get better or not. I look forward to hopefully seeing the Gifs. 

Best

Harvey

THanks Harvey, I didn't see your comment as criticism, though my wife thinks I'm mad. Sitting outside under an open sky in the same position this time of years is perhaps more madness than anything else. I was very cold when I finished, literally shaking more than mere shivering, so I had to make a cup of tea and have a hot water bottle tucked into my shirt to calm me down before I went to bed. Feet and hands were frozen (not literally of course, but very cold) 🥶. I never really warmed up even in bed, so was still cold when I got up at around 9:30 this morning. We don't have the CH fully on yet, but I relented and turned it on for a brief burst about 1 hour ago.....

[Space Cowboy]

Good to see you got some decent data too Geof! I was out last night also.

[knobby]

I love that, looks like Jupiter's beady eye watching the transit approach 😉

[Kon]

Nice image with a double whammy GRS and a transit. Looking forward to the derotated version.

[yelsac]

On 28/10/2023 at 11:44, geoflewis said:

I was out again imaging Jupiter for 3.75 hours capturing the GRS almost limb to limb and almost all of the Europa and it's shadow transits. During the session I captured 132 x 1m SER videos, totalling 330GB of data...!! I had to stop when my imaging laptop SDD was full, but by then the transparancy was getting very poor due to thickening clouds. I'd been capturing between and through variable cloud much of the session, but the seeing was good, so I thought it was worth persevering. Here are examples of what I was imaging through...

No way would any DSO imager capture during those conditions.....

....but, I promised a taster image, so here is what I got from the best 2000 frames from a single 1m SER.

It's a little soft and noisy, but the GRS is in full view, Europa just made contact and it's shadow is already transiting. The resolution should improve once I've processed a bunch of SERs then stacked and derotated the resulting TIFFs. I'm looking to put the best from ~15 videos into each image, so +/-30k frames each. If all goes well I might also produce a rotation GIF of the entire session. This lot is going to keep me busy a couple of days I think, not least cleaning up the smeared Europa & shadow transits after derotation; hence the taster image....

Thanks for looking and watch this space.....

Absolutely love your finished images 👍

It's amazing how ones process their data differently.

So just to confirm you take 15 or so 1 minute sers, process them, stack them & then de-rotate the stacked image for one finished image? Is that correct?

[John_D]

On 28/10/2023 at 12:53, geoflewis said:

THanks Harvey, I didn't see your comment as criticism, though my wife thinks I'm mad. Sitting outside under an open sky in the same position this time of years is perhaps more madness than anything else. I was very cold when I finished, literally shaking more than mere shivering, so I had to make a cup of tea and have a hot water bottle tucked into my shirt to calm me down before I went to bed. Feet and hands were frozen (not literally of course, but very cold) 🥶. I never really warmed up even in bed, so was still cold when I got up at around 9:30 this morning. We don't have the CH fully on yet, but I relented and turned it on for a brief burst about 1 hour ago.....

Excellent report and images thank you @geoflewis. You've given me some motivation to get myself outside even if the conditions are marginal.

( Unlike the astronomy experiences of my youth, I'm now dressed like a polar explorer if I'm out observing between November and February. Must be an age thing 😁 )

[geoflewis]

46 minutes ago, John_D said:

Excellent report and images thank you @geoflewis. You've given me some motivation to get myself outside even if the conditions are marginal.

( Unlike the astronomy experiences of my youth, I'm now dressed like a polar explorer if I'm out observing between November and February. Must be an age thing 😁 )

It's certainly an advantage of having a permanent set up in an observatory. I'd never have set up in those conditions, but I seeing where the jet stream was I was fairly confident that the seeing would be good, which was quickly confirmed so I stuck at it.

[Pete Presland]

Very nice Juipter Geof, like the action shots from the night as well 🙂