Contains:  Solar system body or event
Jupiter, rdk_CA

Jupiter

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

I acquired this image of Jupiter using my C8 OTA in April 2019. I woke up early to take advantage of calmer air shortly before dawn; this image was compiled from 5 videos taken over a 20 minute period after 5 am, using WinJUPOS to de-rotate and average the data. I used a 2x barlow lens during acquisition, for a total focal length of 4064 mm. Here in the Bay Area, Jupiter was roughly 30 degrees above the horizon at that time. Each capture was 45 seconds, and the best 20% were selected and stacked.

This was my first attempt using an ADC to correct for atmospheric dispersion. This image does look a bit sharper than some of my earlier attempts, though this could certainly be the result of better seeing.

I'm not sure I had the collimation absolutely perfect on this image, as there is a slight ring visible around the periphery of the planet. (This can be seen more clearly by stretching the image.) Of course, unfortunately I can't rule out that this could also be due to my image processing approach!

In any case, planetary imaging is something that I have enjoyed from my light-polluted back yard here in the Bay Area. I am looking forward to trying to image Jupiter again this spring.

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Jupiter, rdk_CA