Seeing Jupiter After a Cloudy August

August was a lost month for astronomy. Cloudy skies, Jupiter still up very late at night, and generally tired from activities with the kids.

The other night I finally had a good clear night, though seeing was a little below average. Jupiter is finally up at a semi-normal hour so I want to get some good shots, and the red spot was facing directly at me!

I focused on the moons of Jupiter, collimated, and kept as fast a shutter speed as I could to get the max frame rate. I then set the gain to get a histogram that reached 40-50%. Processing was normal: stacking in autostakkert, wavelets in Registax.

Once again, my 3x barlow lens seems to be a good match for the planets, but the clarity wasn’t quite where I wanted. There are some tantalizing hints at detail, but the planet is still a bit blurrier than I want. If Jupiter was higher in the sky I’d really be able to get an incredible photo!

No matter the result, it’s nice to enjoy an evening in the backyard again.