Jupiter at opposition (almost) - 4 Nov 2023

[geoflewis]

Having missed the night of actual opposition on 3 Nov 2023, I did manage to get out in the early hours of 4 Nov, less than 24 hours after actual opposition. The seeing was fair at best, but transparency quite poor and variable, with periods of quite thick cloud. I managed a few runs and have worked out how set up up Autorun and use ST4 auto guiding in FireCapture, so was experimenting with that. These images were all captured at 10ms (100fps). I stacked best 1200 frames (~20%) from each SER, the first image being from 5x1min SERs, the other 2 from 9x1min SERs. Jupiter had already transitted, so was declining in elevation.

 

Of note is how close Europa and it's shadow are in the 3rd image, compared with my images of it's transit on 27/28 October and also that the shadow now trails behind the moon, as Jupiter is now being illuminated by the Sun from the right side of the planet. I always find it interesting that you can work out the direction of the Sun from seeing Jupiter's moons and their shadows.

[Kon]

Excellent images. I am pleasantly surprised that you managed to get that many details under this awful weather. I noticed that when Jupiter is yellow by naked eye then seeing is really bad. The best I could get last night was an  IR with the GRS. 

[geoflewis]

16 minutes ago, Kon said:

Excellent images. I am pleasantly surprised that you managed to get that many details under this awful weather. I noticed that when Jupiter is yellow by naked eye then seeing is really bad. The best I could get last night was an  IR with the GRS. 

Thanks Kostas,

I was very envious of your opposition images yesterday, so had to try despite the conditions. I also wanted to try autoguiding, so that's something I could do regardless of the seeing. Actually I had a couple of reasonable patches of mostly clear sky, so quite pleased that I got out there.

[Stu]

Excellent shots @geoflewis. I was observing when GRS transited last night and your image helps me confirm a number of features is saw. Of note to me was the turbulence following on behind GRS, and also the bright feature on the bottom edge of the NEB, circled here. Not sure what it is.

[JeremyS]

Great images Geof 👍🏻

[Neil_104]

Excellent images Geof, thanks for sharing. The third image with Io's shadow so close gives a fantastic 3D effect. I managed to briefly observe Jupiter last night at opposition, but just at 1x!

It's great when someone posts a planetary image and it confirms details that were seen on the edge of detection on the night - had that happen a lot during the Mars opposition last year 👍

Edited November 4, 2023 by Neil_104

[geoflewis]

30 minutes ago, Stu said:

Excellent shots @geoflewis. I was observing when GRS transited last night and your image helps me confirm a number of features is saw. Of note to me was the turbulence following on behind GRS, and also the bright feature on the bottom edge of the NEB, circled here. Not sure what it is.

Thanks Stu,

It seems to be a new feature since last week as it didn't appear in my images with the GRS up to 30 Oct. However, it is in Chris Go's image from opposition on 3 Nov that he put up on his website. https://astro.christone.net/jupiter/index.htm

[geoflewis]

27 minutes ago, Neil_104 said:

Excellent images Geof, thanks for sharing. The third image with Io's shadow so close gives a fantastic 3D effect. I managed to briefly observe Jupiter last night at opposition, but just at 1x!

It's great when someone posts a planetary image and it confirms details that were seen on the edge of detection on the night - had that happen a lot during the Mars opposition last year 👍

Thanks Neil,

It's also very rewarding for me when one of my images helps confirm / clarify for others what they saw visually at the eyepiece.

Edited November 4, 2023 by geoflewis

[geoflewis]

26 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Great images Geof 👍🏻

Thanks Jeremy.

[Space Cowboy]

Well done Geof! As you say it's fascinating to see the change in transit shadows. Even if seeing isn't great Jupiter always delivers.

[geoflewis]

41 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

Well done Geof! As you say it's fascinating to see the change in transit shadows. Even if seeing isn't great Jupiter always delivers.

Thanks Stuart.

[orion25]

Brilliant! I noticed that new feature on my images as well. Jupiter is nothing if not dynamic.

Reggie

[geoflewis]

1 hour ago, orion25 said:

Brilliant! I noticed that new feature on my images as well. Jupiter is nothing if not dynamic.

Reggie

Thanks Reggie

[Pete Presland]

A fine set of images, some lovely detail there

[geoflewis]

57 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

A fine set of images, some lovely detail there

Thanks Pete