This is a cross-eye 3D rendition of the data captured on 2020-09-10 at around 19:07Z, both frames a stack of 90 seconds, with only two seconds apart. HEQ5, N250/1200, TSO ADC, automated filter wheel, Baader IR-pass 650 filter, ASI 462MC (cooled), home observatory, mountpusher The frames are arranged so that Io does indeed look to be closer to the viewer.
Jupiter, Callisto, and Ganymede’s shadow are featured. HEQ5, N250/1200, TSO ADC, filters, ASI 462MC (cooled), home observatory, mountpusher
IR-pass 650
Callisto, Jupiter, Ganymede’s shadow and Ganymede. UV/IR cut filter
There’s a legend among amateur astronomers that, without derotation, Jupiter supports only 90 seconds of raw video. Anything above it: derotate.
It always felt fishy to me, even before I started doing planetary photography. Due to other reasons, like capturing the moons’ movement, and the interplay of shadows, I always tried to keep the videos short.
However, the subject is evergreen wherever there are newcomers. So, now I made the math, and since we are people, not mathboys, here’s a handy little table one can play with or scroll below, the same calculator loads into this article.
Yesterday was like any other day, using the little time I have left with this part of the sky — long live the real estate maffia. So I turned on the telescope to record Jupiter. At first, I thought the feature is a piece of hair or something similar, but it moves together with Jupiter, so it should be on Jupiter — or a really extreme case of an artifact from the workflow. I’ve never seen something this big on Jupiter. HEQ5, N250/1200, TSO ADC, ASI 224MC (cooled), home observatory, mountpusher
Hypotheses:
1. a random alignment of features. Could be proved by feature tracking, but I have no data for the last seven days. It’s been raining.
2. scars from an impact event, a row of meteors hit Jupiter some time before my session.
3. ?
In the meanwhile, I received notice from two independent observers that the feature is visible on their pictures too: https://www.asztrofoto.hu/galeria_image/1598019963 and https://www.asztrofoto.hu/galeria_image/1598020097
Jupiter, 5 minutes derotated, showing the same feature, 1933Z
This is Saturn as imaged at 2020-07-29 21:52Z, with HEQ5, N250/1200, TSO ADC, ASI 224MC (cooled), home observatory, mountpusher
