Planets

<Back to Solar System menu

Jupiter. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 4th March 2014. 21:40.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. EQ6 mount.
Imaging Source DFKcamera.
Eyepiece projection was used to give a good image scale. Stacking in Autostakkert and final tweaking in Photoshop.

Click picture for a slightly bigger version.

Jupiter. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 14th November 2012. 22:25.
Intes MN61 - 15cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Imaging Source DFKcamera.
Taken in 2012 this is probably one of the nicest images of Jupiter we've managed to date. The moon is Ganymede. Eyepiece projection was used to give a good image scale. Our main imaging facility was in use by guests so our old MN61 on a basic HEQ5 was pressed into use. Stacking in Registax 6 and final tweaking in Photoshop.

Click picture for a slightly bigger version.

Saturn. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 6th May 2013. 00:24.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Imaging Source DFKcamera.
Just past opposition but low in the sky so not ideal. On this night however, the seeing was suprisingly good. Eyepiece projection was used to give a good image scale. Stacking in Registax 6 and final tweaking in Photoshop.

Saturn. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 18th April 2009. 23:05.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam .
With the ring system almost edge on and very little activity on the disk, Saturn looks quite different from a couple of years ago. 1500 frames were shot and 1000 were used to make up this picture. Eyepiece projection was used to achieve a suitable image scale. The final stacking and processing was then done with Registax 5 and Photoshop.

Mars. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 16th December 2007. 22:45.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam .
Mars reaches opposition this December and the increasing size and high elevation means that we are finally able to resolve a good level of subtle detail. Syrtis Major features prominently in the center of this image.
Eyepiece projection was used to achieve a suitable image scale.
The final stacking and processing was then done with Registax and Photoshop.

Saturn. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 26th March 2007. 22:19.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam .
Reasonable seeing and 'cherry picking' the best 350 frames from an AVI of 550 frames have resulted in this nice image of Saturn. Eyepiece projection was used to achieve a suitable image scale.
The final stacking and processing was then done with Registax and Photoshop.

Saturn. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 6th November 2006. 05:30.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Panasonic Digital Camcorder.
The seeing was very good when this image was taken. It is a stack of about 1100 frames. The digital 'footage' from the camcorder was converted into an avi using Pinnacle Studio 8. The final stacking and processing was then done with Registax and Photoshop.

Mars. Imaged from La Palma. 24th August 2003 14cm Maksutov. Panasonic Digital Camcorder. At the 'Roque de Los Muchachos', altitude 2426m. This image was taken from the summit of La Palma in the Canaries. It was created from several minutes of footage converted into an avi of about 2000 frames using Pinnacle Studio 8. The final processing was then done with Registax and Photoshop. This image was the result of much planning and, on the night, discomfort. However the end result surpassed all expectations!
Jupiter. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon. 23:48. 19th April 2005. Intes MN61 - 15cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam. This image shows the transit of the moon Io and its' shadow. The shadow is the very dark mark whilst the moon itself is the smaller and fainter mark just to the right of the shadow. South is up. The frame rate was 15fps and the shutter speed 1/33th sec. The gain was judged by eye. Frame size was 640x480. A total of 2000 frames was reduced in Registax to 1000 for the final image.
Saturn. Imaged from Nottingham. 23rd February 2004 Intes MN61 - 15cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam. This image is a stack of 1100 frames. It was produced using Registax and Photoshop. The seeing was indifferent with short moments of stillness followed by longer periods of gentle 'pulsing'. North is up. The frame rate was 2fps and the shutter speed 1/25th sec. The gain was judged by eye. Frame size was 640x480.
Jupiter. Imaged from Nottingham. 8th April 2004 Intes MN61 - 15cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam. This image is a stack of 200 frames. It was produced using Registax and Photoshop. Given the success with Saturn I expected Jupiter to be easy. This was not the case! The wealth of detail highlights any deficiency in technique and the seeing has to be superb. Although far from my ideal, this was the best image at the time. South is up. The frame rate was 1.5fps and the shutter speed 1/33th sec. The gain was judged by eye. Frame size was 640x480.
Mars. Imaged from La Palma. 24th August 2003 14cm Maksutov. Nikon 4500. Compact digital still camera. The image on the left was taken at sea level whilst the image on the right was taken at the summit of La Palma. The polar cap clearly shows the superior seeing at altitude. Each image was a stack of about 90 still frames. Whilst it is still an fantastic result from a 5" telescope, the advantage of using thousands of video frames over tens of still frames may be judged by comparison with the La Palma image higher up the page.
Venus. Alport. Derbyshire. May 22nd 2004 Intes MN61 - 15cm Maksutov-Newtonian. To-U-Pro webcam. This image was produced from about 350 video frames using Registax and Photoshop. Shot from Alport heights in Derbyshire, Venus was low in the sky at the time and the seeing was not good. The raw images showed much colour fringing and it took a lot of re-alignment of the colour layers to achieve this result. Despite all this there is not too much 'cheating' with this image.

<Back to Solar System menu