Jupiter Planets Solar System

Jupiter Opposition 2021

Russ

Jupiter reached opposition on the night of August 19-20. I wasn’t able to image during August, but did capture Jupiter in late July as the planet was approaching opposition.

The seeing during this period was exceptionally good and allowed me to capture my best images yet of the giant planet.  The seeing was so good during two observing sessions that I was able to produce short animations showing Jupiter’s rotation as well as some of its prominent features.  Nights with seeing this good are rare in central Oklahoma.

July 23

The Great Red Spot is just rotating out of view to the right In this 20-minute animation from the morning of July 23rd. North is at top. Preceding limb is right. Following limb at left. [1]
July 30

In this eight minute animation, the Great Red spot is again about to rotate out of view, but the seeing was so good that a little detail is even visible inside the Red Spot itself. North is at top. Preceding limb is right. Following limb at left.[2]
In this snippet of raw video from July 30th, Jupiter’s disk is solid and stable. The disk shows good contrast, little undulation, and some smaller details. This is the definition of “excellent seeing.” See A Modern Scale of Astronomical Seeing for Imagers by Damian Peach.

Notes:

1. July 23, 2021 09:18:30-09:39:04 UT  Seeing: Good
9 image time lapse. Each image is a stack of the best 6000 of 10000 frames. 68 fps, 10.72 ms per frame.
Captured with FireCapture. Stacked in AutoStakkert3. Wavelets and color adjustment in Registax. Animation in PIPP.
Telescope:  Celestron C8 (203mm SCT f/10) + Orion 2x Shorty Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI224MC + UV/IR cut filter

2. July 30, 2021 09:34:47- 09:43:26 UT  Seeing: Excellent
4 image time lapse. Each image is a stack of the best 6000 of 10000 frames. 82 fps, 11.15 ms per frame.
Captured with FireCapture. Stacked in AutoStakkert3. Wavelets and color adjustment in Registax. Animation in PIPP.
Telescope: Celestron C8 (203mm SCT f/10) + Orion 2x Shorty Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI224MC + UV/IR cut filter

 

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