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.

Stephen Mack