Contains:  Solar system body or event
Swan song, Darren (DMach)
Swan song, Darren (DMach)

Swan song

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

My first and only image this year, and the last one for the foreseeable future ... it's been a long and tough decision, but I'm going to have to hang up my planetary imaging "boots".

And so it's a fond farewell to my planetary imaging rig. I'm very happy with the new home it's going to (someone beginning their own planetary adventure) and hope it brings as much joy as it has for me. 

I set it up the other night to make sure everything's still working smoothly before handing it over. I wasn't actually planning to image but, as luck would have it, the seeing was pretty much perfect! Too good to waste, for sure.

Transparency wasn't great, which I only realised when the mount suggested Fomalhaut as the second alignment star. To which I murmured: "What the heck are you talking about, I can't see Fomalhaut ... is it even up yet? Oh wait, yes I can ... just." A magnitude 1.2 star, and you have to look carefully to see it ... welcome to the light-polluted and hazy skies of Singapore!

But Jupiter is brighter still, seeing is indeed king and I really can't complain about the resulting image. It's a nice way to finish. 

As always, there's plenty to look at across Jupiter's ever-changing cloudscape. This time, I'm particularly taken by the numerous white ovals in the north tropical zone (NTrZ) which would probably be invisible, if they weren't wrapping themselves in threads of brown cloud stolen from the north equatorial belt (NEB). I was also lucky to have Io (and its shadow) in transit.

There are two Jupiter images here, both consisting of 5 x 90s captures derotated in Winjupos. Using an odd number of captures allowed me to overlay Io and it's shadow from the central time point onto the final image.

Having discovered the delightful seeing, and learning from past mistakes, I quickly captured the first series even though I had yet to check collimation (in case the seeing didn't last or clouds formed).

The second series was taken after checking collimation on a nearby star using MetaGuide. Collimation was not far off as it happened, so it only made a slight difference in image detail ... it's a game of incremental gains!

However, in what must be amongst the most belated "ah ha!" moments in history, this experience made me realise one key benefit of accurate collimation: it makes judging critical focus easier!

Mousing-over the final image will enable you to quickly compare the two (pre- and post-collimation).

To top things off, it was (quite accidentally) near as makes no difference to opposition for Saturn, allowing for a pic of this beautiful giant brightly bejeweled due to the Seeliger effect.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words, tips, tricks and encouragement over the years - it's been an amazing journey!

Comments

Revisions

    Swan song, Darren (DMach)
    Original
  • Final
    Swan song, Darren (DMach)
    B
    Swan song, Darren (DMach)
    C

B

Description: Post-collimation

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C

Description: A bonus pic of Saturn :)

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Histogram

Swan song, Darren (DMach)