Image 1: Jupiter and Europa from Lac Teeples, November 12, 2023 using the 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain.
Yet another image of Jupiter.
While I have the C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope mounted I’ll be imaging the planets and other small targets. The sky was reasonably clear and the atmosphere stable on the evening of November 12 so I took a short video at 10:53pm. The planet was nearly due south at this time, making it the best time of the night (based on location in the sky, not atmospheric considerations). The video included 2000 images of 4ms integration time.
I altered the time from 4ms to 3, upped the gain, and tried a second time but the image suddenly disappeared midway through the process. It seems that my focus motor suddenly came unstuck and moved a great distance away from focus before stopping. By the time I figured out what was happening I was looking at another target and that was all the Jupiter observing for the night.
Looking at this image I decided that I’d captured both one of the planets and the great red spot. To check this I consulted with Stellarium, setting the clock to that time and date. It’s not a perfect match, but it’s very close! Europa appears on the uppper left, roughly 1.5 planetary diameters away. The great red spot is on the bottom right, just in view.
I moved the time back a few hours and was surprised how much the planet changes in that time. I know Jupiter rotates very quickly, but wow! The sequence of images below are screenshots from Stellarium on the night in question one hour apart. The image at 22:53 should match my image (which was rotated to align with the Stellarium view).
Image 2: Stellarium view of Jupiter and Jovian planets, 2023-11-12 at 20:53
Image 3: Stellarium view of Jupiter and Jovian planets, 2023-11-12 at 21:53
Image 4: Stellarium view of Jupiter and Jovian planets, 2023-11-12 at 22:53
Image 5: Stellarium view of Jupiter and Jovian planets, 2023-11-12 at 23:53
The stellarium image at 22:53 has the red spot in a more prominant location, but it is approximately correct. I don't know how complex or accurate their modelling is. Nevertheless it is safe to say that the great red spot is on the lower right side in my image. If I'd tried an hour earlier it might have been front and centre.
Overall I'm happy with this image of Jupiter (Image 1). I will try again, and next time will try to time my viewing to capture the great red spot!
Jupiter from Lac Teeples, 2023-11-12. 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain with the ZWO ASI-6200MC camera. No filters. Focus by slowly and laborously moving the camera out in tiny steps because the focus motor was frozen or jammed.
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