September 27th, 2022, 1:03 a.m. local time
It’s been a while since I included any of the Galilean moons in a posted Jupiter image, so here is for making up lost time. On this week’s opposition night, I took care to include an image set with an ISO high enough (1600) to record the three closets moons to Jupiter (Callisto was on the opposite side of Jupiter, and much further away, making an inclusive photo difficult).
The night was cool bordering on cold, with a steady wind. I attribute the less-than-stellar final Jupiter detail to the continual vibration of the Dobsonian tube, due to the wind.
To create the final image, I overlayed a post-processed ISO 200 of just Jupiter with a large image at ISO 1600 of the three moons. Because I used the exact same scaling through PIPP and Autostakkert, aligning the images was less than trivial in PaintShop Pro to create the perfectly matched composite you see above.
More astrophotography incoming! This is just a start. I know I have not posted recently, beyond my off-topic how-to and tech articles, but that is about to change again in a big way. Some content I already have captured, and others are planned. Going to finish out 2022 strong!
Have I ever mentioned Neptune to you?
Summary of my equipment, settings, and software used:
- Telescope: Dobsonian reflector 254mm / 10″ (homemade)
- Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL3
- Barlow: TeleVue Powermate x5 1.25″
- Filter: Baader Neodymium 1.25″
- Canon T ring and adapter
- Relevant camera settings:
- ISO 200 for Jupiter / 1600 for Galilean moons
- Exposure: 30
- HD video at 60fps
- Created from three videos of about 25s each, best 35% of frames (via Autostakkert)
- Software for post-processing:
- PIPP
- Autostakkert
- Registax 6
- PaintShop Pro for minor touch-ups
