Jupiter
and Ganymede.
Jupiter and its four
moons are one of the most observed, and most imaged, objects in our
solar system.
Galileo was the first to observe
Ganymede, Europa, Io
and Callisto, hence their designations as the
'Galilean' moons. Since 1610 the number of Jupiter's moons has
increased to between
80 and 95,
with the number changing constantly. Jupiter's largest moon,
Ganymede, is the largest moon in the solar system, larger than
Mercury or Pluto, and almost the size of Mars. Ganymede orbits
Jupiter every 7.155 days. Jupiter itself rotates once every 10
hours, contributing to the
bands of clouds
always present.This image was made with a Celestron C11 with a 2X Barlow, increasing its focal length to about 5600 mm. An ASI294MC Pro camera was used to record seven 30-second AVI video clips. The videos were processed in AutoStakkert3 (best 9700 frames) and WaveSharp to produce seven separate images. These were stacked in WinJuPos which also de-rotates the individual images. Final processing and sharpening was done in Photoshop.
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This page illustrates what can be photographed using amateur telescopes and a CCD camera. I currently use an SBIG STL11000M camera and have previously used SBIG and Starlight Xpress cameras, as well as a Cookbook 245 camera that I built myself. Many of the images o this web site were taken from my backyard near a busy street with several street lights. Not only is the CCD camera a great imaging tool, but it allows "real time" observation of objects not normally visible in areas with moderate-severe light pollution.
