Hi guys – here is my first attempt to image Jupiter in the last year or two, and my first attempt with a Meade Lunar Planetary Imager. Image details: Camera – Meade LPI set at 240x320 resolution; Telescope – Meade 5” AR5 achromat; Mount – Losmandy G-11 Gemini “sort-of” polar aligned; Image scale amplification – Televue 2.5x Powermate; Image capture software – Trial version of K3CCDTools, which allowed the LPI to act as a video camera (instead of the “normal” single-frame capture that is provided by Meade’s Autostar Suite). Images were captured on June 10th starting at 12:58 a.m. local time from my light-polluted backyard 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California. Total image capture time (camera running) was about 8-1/2 minutes. A lot of frames in the original capture sequence were rejected by K3CCD because of poor image quality.

I had originally also shot a couple of videos using a Televue Big Barlow (2” 2x) in addition to the 2.5x Powermate {resulting in a “working” focal length for the telescope of 5900 mm at f/46.5}, but the loss of light by using a small, 5” refractor, combined with the amplified poor seeing conditions in the atmosphere made me quickly give up my pursuit of using any data from those. The selected 33-second (112-Megabyte) “final” video clip obtained with K3CCD just using the 2.5x Powermate was imported into RegiStax version 4 for processing and wavelet application. The final image adjustments (histogram, levels and curves) were performed in PhotoShop CS.

This is a far cry from what others have posted in this forum for their Jupiter captures, but I was pleased that the image was even remotely discernable using a camera that retails for around $99 in U.S. currency. Unfortunately, you need a computer to control the LPI, but I was able to borrow one from work for the task. I know this image needs a lot of help, and I’ve got a long way to go on the uphill learning curve, but by shooting video and letting software select the “best” frames to combine, I at least ended up with something a lot better than I was able to see visually through the eyepiece.

Questions, comments and critiques welcome!

Clear skies!

Paul

Attached Images

K3CCD_0002-Jupiter 3 - last 4 wavelets at 20_6 - Color.jpg (43.0 KB, 65 views)

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Paul,

Looks good. There is nice detail in the planet and the colors are nice.

--Andy

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Observatorio de la Ballona

Lovely image Paul!! I would give my two front teeth to get an image like that with my afocal technique. But I know now that it is not possible. I think you have done exceptionally well.
Clear skies

Phil

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Paul you have accomplished a great feat on arquiring this photo with your equipment. It is a great shot that shows the bands anc colors with many details-Well done my friend Clear Skies

Yeah excellent shot, nice detail!

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Thank you Andy, Phil, Efrain and stevenspray for the nice comments. I was surprised to see that much detail come out of the movie, since the individual frames I could view looked very poor and non-descript. I guess that's the power of taking a movie over individual images - there are more "good" frames to start with, and then letting RegiStax work its magic. It must see things a lot different than I do.

Clear skies to all of you!

Paul

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Photons are free. Take some!