Sunday, September 22, 2013

Jupiter, and the Great Red Spot

Ok, these I'm particular happy with.
I woke up at the unholy hour of 415AM today. Just to take some pictures in the cold.
You know what, it was worth it!
Jupiter's day lasts 9 hours. Kinda; because it's not a solid planet, the different latitudes rotate at slightly different speeds. Anyway, I wanted to catch a picture of the Great Red Spot, which would be visible at 5 AM. Hence the alarm clock.
These were the results. One of the moons showed up in the picture as well (I could see 4 through the scope). Calisto or Ganymede probably- the 2 largest.

Incidentally, the Great Red Spot has a maximum diameter of 40,000 km. It is a storm that has been active for at least 300 years. Imagine that.
Anyway, these were taken with the Nexstar 4SE, with the Neximage camera and images stacked. Someday when I can afford Photoshop, maybe I can make it look better.