This was my first decent Jupiter photograph (in October 1999), taken with my Vivitar 35EM compact, afocal with a 10 mm eyepiece on my C8. It shows a shadow transit of Io, at the very bottom of the disc.
Planet and other Solar System Images
|
This was my first decent Jupiter photograph (in October 1999), taken with my Vivitar 35EM compact, afocal with a 10 mm eyepiece on my C8. It shows a shadow transit of Io, at the very bottom of the disc. |
|
|
This shot of Saturn was taken the same night. At the time, I was quite pleased with both shots, and indeed they are not too bad for standard photographs, but the multiple capture and processing options of CCD photography have swept the board for planetary imaging. |
 |
|
Before I got the VCam, I took some sequences with a Canon UC15 Video Camera. Later frame capture and processing yielded these images. R.J. Stekelenburg's AstroStack program was invaluable in processing the ten second AVI clips which each yielded around 100 frames. |
 |
|
These pictures were also from the Video Camera. They were taken on December 13/14 1999, and show the movement of the moons around Jupiter over a six hour period, and the change in the appearance of the planet. |
 |
|
Saturn has proved a difficult subject. Although I took numerous frames with the VCam, none processed as well as a Video Camera clip, also on December 13th. Here it is, some banding apparent, and a hint of Cassini's Division. |
 |
|
Once I started imaging with the Vcam, I was able to take multiple images, then combine and process them. The next picture was a pleasing result, processed using a trial version of MaximDL. |
 |
|
This pair of images was overexposed to show the moons. Because I wasn't looking for detail, they are just single shots. It's interesting that to capture the moons with the Vcam I have to overexpose the planet, whereas the Video camera is ok. I think it's to do with the 6 bit operation of the Web Camera limiting the dynamic range of the images. |
 |
|
The following set is of particular interest. The conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on 17th. May 2000 was almost a transit - only 20 arc seconds seperation between the planetary discs at closest approach. BUT it was during the day in the UK, at 1030 UST (1130 BST). The weather here on the few days preceding the event was very hazy, but with a cold front due to pass through the night before, I hoped for clean skies. Indeed they were - in between quickly moving clouds! Sod's law came into full effect, and there was never a long enough clear patch near closest approach for me to find Venus and align the camera. Eventually however a large clear area opened up around 1215 (1115 UST), and I was able to image for about 6 minutes from 1217 to 1223, getting over 100 images. Venus was crisp and clear, and nearby a faint pale circle was Jupiter. The seperation by then was about 100 arc seconds. Venus at that time was only 6.5 degrees from the Sun! I used the Baader Solar Film Sun filter while aligning the telescope on the Sun, then setting circles to move to Venus' position before removing the filter. The images were taken using the VCam at prime focus of the Celestar 8" SCT. The second picture is a false colour version of the centre one in the group, processed by Steve Wainwright of QCUIAG. The right hand picture is a composite of all the images, stacked in 1 minute blocks, then overlaid in Adobe Photoshop, using Jupiter as the reference. This also shows the movement of Venus over the 6 minute period, and a hint of two bands on Jupiter. |
 - - |
|
With Autumn fast approaching, Jupiter and Saturn have returned to our nighttime skies, although still (late August) early morning apparitions. As well as imaging the Moon on August 20th. I also looked at Jupiter, and found a rather attractive positioning of the moons. The planet itself is over exposed, but by the time I'd captured it, the clouds rolled in, so I was unable to go for any detail. |
 |
|
The early hours of August
28th. saw me under clear skies at home, imaging deep sky
with my Grayscale
and planets with my Vcam.
Seeing was very stable, |
 -- |
|
Yet another damp night on 4th. September giving good seeing and more images of Saturn and Jupiter: |
 -c |
|
9th. October 2000 saw me up very late, and this image of Jupiter, my first red spot of the apparition, was obtained in good seeing at 5.26 am local time! (0426 UST). Vcam + 2x Barlow, 8" SCT |
 |
|
In January 2001, Venus was a bright jewel in the evening sky, and a combination of several images, all rather blurry in turbulent air on a cold evening of 13th. produced this picture. No cloud detail seen, but unmistakeably half phase! See below for more photos! |
 |
|
After several weeks of poor weather, a high pressure system established over the UK, and on a moist evening of 14th. January 2001 I captured this image of Jupiter, using a Philips Vesta Pro Web Camera , prime focus + 3x Barlow on my 8" SCT. 37 images stacked in Astrostack, colour adjusted in Photoshop LE. The Vesta Pro gives slightly sharper images than the Vcam, but the colours tend to be a bit washed out, hence the need for adjustment. This is probably my best Jupiter image to date. |
 |
|
In the early evening of 5th. March 2001, a shadow transit of Io coincided with a passage of the Red Spot, actually overtaking the Spot during the transit. I imaged the full sequence, although seeing varied from fair to appalling due to the movement of the line of sight over areas of gas centrally heated housing! A small frame (26 Kb) sequence is shown here, you can view a larger animation of 130 Kb by clicking on the image. The images were taken using my Meade LX90, Alt-Az mounted, hence the rotation of Jupiter's axis during the three hour sequence. Watch out for Io itself leaving the planet in two of the frames. |
 |
|
Later in the month, on March 20th., there was a double shadow transit of Europa and Ganymede. I imaged the sequence, but conditions were very poor, and not worthy of an animation. Nevertheless one reasonable shot was obtained. The shadows are one above the other in this picture, Ganymede is the lower and larger shadow. The dark patch on the equatorial band is not a shadow or artifact - it appeared on the other shots as well. |
 |
The early 2001 apparition of Venus gave us
several weeks of a superbly beautiful Evening Star, a bright beacon
at a magnitude
of -4.6 for most of February. Here is a selection of photographs
taken using the Vesta Pro Web Camera and 3x Barlow on the C8,
showing the change in shape and size as conjunction approached.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
This animation shows the orbital positions of the inner planets and the effect on the appearance of Venus as seen from Earth for this apparition. Click on the animation for an enlargement (107 Kb). The orbital pictures were generated using Starry Night Backyard, the animation constructed using Animation Shop. |
 |
|
The apparition of June 2001 was a pretty close approach, giving almost 21 arc-seconds diameter at maximum. But at my location, it never rose above 9 degrees from the horizon. so was extremely turbulent and disturbed. But the first week of July was very humid and still, and the stable conditions allowed me to take a sequence of photographs on July 4th. which resulted in this image. 163 images taken with Vesta Pro web camera, 3 x Televue Barlow and Meade LX90, using Vega for the imaging, Astrostack for combining, Photoshop for adjusting the levels and AstroAlign to reduce the chromatic aberration caused by the low altitude. Original images were extremely fuzzy and ill defined, but the stacking of so many shots and further processing brought out the hidden detail. All credit to the programmers, and roll on 2003 when Mars is at 20 degrees elevation and even bigger! |
 |
|
On Sunday 5th. August 2001, there was broken cloud around lunchtime here in North East England, but very clean air in between, so I decided to look for Venus. Having found her, after a bit of number swapping with Autostar and Skymap, and taken several photographs at full zoom, I hied me to Jupiter. And there he was also! Two bands clearly visible in the eyepiece, so worth a go with the camera despite the much lower surface brightness. Time obviously not exactly noon for both planets, but near enough. Approximately 40 degrees West of the Sun. But I didn't try for Mercury although it might have been bright enough - less than 2 degrees from the Sun is too close for comfort! |
|
|
The pre dawn hours (around 6 am) of October 4th 2001 promised a shadow transit of Io coupled with a emergence from occultation of Ganymede. I was able to capture this before the sky lightened. |
 |
|
Around 6 pm on 26th. January 2002 there was a superb occultation of Jupiter by the Moon. Although the Moon was near full, the occultation from the North of England was a near graze, consequently the entry phase showed lunar detail as well as three major satellites and banding on Jupiter. Note the peculiar flooded plateau crater Wargentin. The block of pictures shows the entire event over a span of 35 minutes. All with Vesta Pro web camera at prime focus of the LX90. |
|
|
|
In January 2002, I was experimenting with the AstroVideo software, and took some frames of Jupiter. Whether it is due to the greater dynamic depth of stacked fits format frames, or just good seeing I don't know, but this ranks as one of my best images of Jupiter. It gives one pause for thought to realise that Planet Earth would easily fit inside the Great Red Spot! |
 |
|
I've done very little planetary imaging over the season 2002-2003. Partly sidetracked by deep sky, partly 'blown away' by amazing webcam images from QCUIAG members in Hong Kong, but mainly because seeing conditions have been atrocious! However, a couple of reasonable images have emerged from the rubbish. One of Saturn on 18th. December 2002 and one of Jupiter on 22nd. February 2003. |
  |
|
On 7th. May 2003 Mercury transited the face of the Sun. I was on holiday in Ambleside in the English Lake District, and although I went out early (up a mountain pass!) to try for the early stages, it was clouded over. But later stages from the hotel lawn :-) were nice and clear, and I obtained several images. The still frames here (linked as usual to larger versions) were both single frames, the exit frame being taken at full optical and digital zoom of my Olympus 2100UZ camera through the 40 mm eyepiece on my AT1010 (mounted on undriven EQ3-2 equatorial mount). There are also DivX codec AVI's of the transit and exit stages . Transit (52 KB) here, Exit (8.5 KB) here. Depending on the configuration of your browser, you may need to download the AVI's before you can view them. |
|
|
MARS made its closest approach to the Earth for almost 60,000 years at the end of August 2003. Unfortunately rather low in the sky in the UK, and my earlier images were not worth displaying. But the early hours of 6th. August with the planet's disc approaching 23 arc-seconds in diameter , despite difficult conditions with the image continually 'morphing' yielded this barely acceptable merge of 570 frames. The enlargement also shows a simulation from Mars Previewer |
|
|
In the early hours of 14th. August, Mars was starting to ride high (well, almost 20 degrees), so as soon as it appeared around the corner of my neighbours house, it was webcam time! I took several .avis, and eventually produced this image from around 2500 frames. Much better colour and shape than my previous attempt, but I was still hoping for further improvements before this very close approach was over - I might not be around (in 2020) for the next one! The enlargement also shows a simulation from Mars Previewer. |
|
|
High Pressure became established for a couple of days , and I obtained this image of Mars early on 23rd. August. Still troubled by atmospherics, but more features identifiable using Mars previewer (click on thumbnail).
|
|
|
More stable again early on 24th. August, and my best yet, with the South Polar Cap showing some signs of fragmentation. Closest in a couple of days, but the weather forecast is poor :-( |
|
|
After a few cloudy nights, the night of 29/30 August had numerous clear spells, so I took another avi of Mars. But seeing was poor, so the image only shows the broadest features.
|
|
|
Fairly still conditions, but dappled thin cloud dimmed the contrast early on 2nd. September. A little more detail than 30th. August, but only just! Nevertheless, it is very obvious how much the South polar cap has shrunk over the three weeks since my first image of 6th. August. |
|
|
3-D Jupiter! At last I've moved to my new home in Northumberland, with open dark skies over farmland and woodland to the South, and moderate light pollution to the North, looking over the town of Hexham from 450 feet above it! This Southerly view was taken the morning after the snowfall of 28th. January. South is about 1/3 from the left. The night of 25th. January 2004 was still, with patchy mist, but good seeing, so I finally unpacked my LX90 and started imaging around 0200 UST. I'm particularly pleased with the right hand image of Jupiter - I haven't had such good definition on a planet for about three years now, and I believe this is not only due to the favourable weather conditions, but also the fact that I am no longer viewing across Supermarket and Multiplex Cinema buildings and car parks, a trunk road and a 24 hour car factory (Nissan) only two miles away, with all the attendant thermal activity! These images were taken 6 minutes apart, and the rotation is just enough to give a 3-D effect using the 'crossed eye' technique. Click on the thumbnail for a full size image, and here for one sized to give relatively easy stereo viewing on average monitor settings. You may need to resize for the best effect. |
|
|
Although seeing had been terrible most of the year in the North of England, the occasional better night attempts at planetary imaging with my modded Vesta Pro webcam were spoilt by the dreaded diagonal banding. So I eventually took the plunge and purchased a Toucam Pro. With reasonable results on a night of moderate seeing on 12/13th. May 2005 This is probably my only Jupiter image for the season, but shows some interesting features. Europa just visible as a splodge of colour, the position of Io is really just an approximation based on the Skymap chart but it's just possible to see a lightening at the point indicated. Time 2232 UST. |
 |
|
On 15th. May 2004, Comet 2001Q4 NEAT passed across M44. Although this comet did not quite live up to expectations regarding brightness, nevertheless it was an easy 'fuzzy blob' binocular object, and sported a tail visible in long exposure images. The actual passage of the tail across M44 took place in mid afternoon at my Longitude, but in the late evening I was able to capture this image. MX716 with 135 mm camera lens, stack of 5 x 1 minute images. Taken at Hexham just before midnight (1100 UST) in Astronomical twilight and slight mist. Piggybacked on my LX90 (unfortunately the drive system on my G41 had developed a fault which prevented long exposure imaging, and the replacement had not arrived in time.) |
 |
|
While preparing to image Messier 14 on the night of 7th June 2005, and looking at the Skymap display for Serpens, almost directly 'below' M14 I realised that Pluto was culminating around 0030 UST, just toward the end of Astronomical twilight. so here is an image probably showing the planet. A further one needs to be taken in a day or so time to confirm movement. 15 x 30 second frames, Art 285, Mirage 8 at f6.3. |
 |
|
Well, for once the weather smiled on me and the following night of 8/9th June was also clear although hazy. But again good enough to obtain a second image of Pluto, confirming movement. Animated gif here The movement is over 23 1/2 hours, and Skymap gives it as around 96 arc-secs. Clyde Tombaugh must have had the patience of a saint when originally looking for Pluto! |
 |
|
Mars pops its head up every two years. The apparition of 2003 was the closest for around 60,000 years, but disappointing from the UK because of its low altitude. 2005 saw it return, smaller (20 as opposed to 25 arc-seconds) although still a very good size and much higher in the sky at around 50 degrees altitude. Unfortunately the Autumn weather was most unfavourable with most nights extremely turbulent. But I managed to capture a few images, some of which came out reasonably well. If you can do cross-eyed stereo, these images were taken approximately 24 hours apart, and the slight rotation gives a stereo effect |
|
|
A few days of unpleasant cloudy conditions then an excellent clear night made up for it. December 6th. 2005 saw me staying up all night to make the most of the good conditions, and imaging a number of deep sky objects. Finally, I was on the verge of packing up when I had a look at Saturn. The sky was pretty steady, and I had a peek through the eyepiece. Definitely decent seeing. So despite the late hour (6.25 am!) on with the Toucam! And not too bad! |
 |
|
On 4th. April 2006, during a deep sky imaging session I had a look at the fragmented comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann which was brightening nicely, although at the 1280 mm focal length I was using I couldn't pick up more than one fragment. This is the 'C' fragment. I processed 10 x 1 minute frames centred on the comet, hence the blurry stars. Late April/early May will be the best time for England. Art285 with Mirage at f6.3 |
 |
|
At around 4 am on 8th May 2006, the 'C' fragment of Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann passed very close to Messier 57, the Ring Nebula. This was always going to be marginal for me, because of the early lightening sky at my latitude. But unfortunately the weather played dirty on me, and clouds obscured the entire event. The weather continued poor for a few days, but before the comet passed out of my view as it approached the Sun, I had a final opportunity to visit the 'C' fragment again in the early hours of 11th. May. The head was bright enough to guide on, and I secured a long sequence of 45 second frames to compose an interesting video. The sequence covers almost 2 1/2 hours, as shown in the start and finish frames mosaic. Artemis with TMB 105, binned 2x2. Much compressed GIF animation here. (194KB) DivX codec avi here. (1381 KB) If you don't have a DivX codec, it can be downloaded here |
|
|
I also captured some images in the early hours of May 2nd. The combined frames were centred on the comet heads, so the stars are trailed substantially. I processed the frames to give similar background levels. Fragment 'B' is the fainter, 'C' the brighter of the two. Artemis with Mirage at f 6.3, 1 minute frames. |
|
|
In mid June 2006 my Artemis 285 'died'. It had for some time exhibited an occasional fault, but this time it did not return to life. I was going on Holiday to Norfolk, and Asteroid 2004XP14 was due to make a relatively close and fast pass (around Moon orbit distance). I brought my Canon 350 D into service and with it mounted on my AT1010 refractor and EQ3-2 mount was successful in obtaining numerous frames in the early hours of 4th. July 2006. 90 second frames were chosen to show up the background stars clearly, but this means that the fast moving asteroid appears as a streak. A suitable area of the originals was cropped out for the final result.A single frame is shown opposite, with the asteroid streak in the centre, but a DivX video is available here. Note the size is 399 KB. Daylight approached towards the end of the sequence, this is clearly seen in the lightening of the frames. 50 frames in total over a time span of 80 minutes. |
 |
|
The turn of the year from 2006 to 2007 proved to be one of the warmest and wettest on record, with gales and rain lasting for weeks. And typically it coincided with the apparition of one of the brightest recorded comets, 2006 P1 McNaught. It approached the Sun above the plane of the ecliptic, but never very high, brightened hugely as it rounded the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury, then shot away South at right angles to the ecliptic. It was bright enough to be naked eye visible in the Northern hemisphere twilight skies, estimated at magnitude -4 or brighter. Alas the weather in my part of theUK was very unkind. But 10th. January cleared up nicely in the early evening, and I set up my Canon 350D camera on my William Optics ZS66 refractor, and aligned it on the comet which was visible in my finder 'scope after sunset This first picture was taken before it became naked eye visible and at that time everything looked very promising, but see that patch of cloud in the lower corner...... |
 |
|
Then everything started to go pear shaped. As the comet dipped lower, two banks of dense cloud formed near the horizon, and hid it for fully 20 minutes or more. Indeed I removed my camera from the telescope and took this wide field shot. X marks the location of the comet - well and truly hidden! |
 |
|
Eventually it reappeared sandwiched in the narrow gap between the two cloud banks. The head occasionally popped into view, and was clearly visible to the naked eye. But I never got to see the full tail, indeed this photo was the only half decent one. Larger photo. This image appeared in the April-June 2007 issue of the SPA magazine The comet rounded the Sun over the next few days, always clouded in for me, and with the extra heating as it rounded the Sun, the apparition in the Southern Hemisphere was amazing, with a long curved tail and associated streamers. |
 |
|
Alas the full apparition was not for me, but here is a stunning picture taken by the discoverer. And at least one man from North East England got to see it in its full glory. Jack Newton emigrated from Sunderland to New Zealand in the Autumn of 2006, and he had a superb view. This is his photograph, taken on 22nd. January. Canon 350D and 28 mm Nikon lens. Larger version here |
 |
|
I don't do much planetary imaging - my seeing at the high magnifications required is rarely good enough. But the evening of April 14th. 2007 was pretty steady for me, so I first visited Venus an hour or so after sunset and obtained a reasonably steady image. Toucam and 3x Barlow with Mirage 8. |
 |
|
Saturn was still fairly close to it's nearest approach of this apparition (which occurred on 11th. February), and again the reasonably steady sky allowed me to capture a fair sequence of frames with this result. Toucam and 3x Barlow with Mirage 8. |
 |
|
Comet C/2006 VZ13 LINEAR zipped across the Northern skies during July 2007, and in its passage almost clipped the globular cluster M3 in Canes Venatici around 0000 UT on 23rd. At the time I realised this, I had packed my TMB 105 to take on holiday the following day, and the field of view required was too large for my LX200. So on with the diminutive William Optics ZS66 refractor and SBIG camera to capture what I could before the comet dipped below the trees. Using Maxim DL to capture, I interspersed colour frames with the monochrome ones, but I didn't specify as many colour, and also took them binned 2x2, so rather than overlay as LRGB, I have kept them separate. Here is a full size monochrome, stacked on the stars, with the movement of the comet over 30 minutes seen as the fuzzy streak at 8-o-clock. 20 x 30 second subframes. Full Size |
 |
|
This is a crop from a single 30 second monochrome frame |
 |
|
And here is the colour image, stacked on the comet head. RGB 10 each x 15 seconds binned 2x2 |
 |
|
The night of August 12th. 2007 was forecast to see the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor shower. And as luck would have it I was blessed with a reasonably clear sky. Not crystal, and occasional clouds moving over, but a decent show with some quite brilliant meteors spanning up to 30 degrees of sky. I had my Canon 350D set up on my EQ3 tracking mount, centred on Cygnus. Of course that meant that the best meteors were anywhere BUT Cygnus, and out of 104 x 1 minute frames there were only 3 captures, 2 of which were just a touch on the edge of the frame! But one particularly brilliant one favoured me around 23:44 UT on the 12th. And to add to the interest there was a satellite trail which continued in the following frame. Identified almost certainly as Lacrosse 5, a US Military Reconnaissance satellite. Median stacking 5 frames improved the Milky Way background and then pasting back the meteor and satellite trails at full brightness gave this decent image. Mouse over the medium size image for constellation and star names. Large Size |
 |
|
Comet 8P/Tuttle is a regular visitor to the Inner Solar system. First discovered in 1790 by Pierre Méchain, it was not then recognised as a short period comet. But it was rediscovered and studied in greater depth by Horace Tuttle in 1858, when he confirmed its identity. It's orbital frequency is 13.6 years, and it is recognised as being the source of the debris for the December Ursid meteor shower. This was the closest approach of the comet since its discovery in 1790. It was expected to attain a maximum brightness of around 5 during its pass by the Earth on 1 January 2008 at a distance of 0.25AU. Then on 26 January 2008 the comet was closest to the Sun at a distance of 1.03AU. On 30th December 2007 it was due to pass close by the 'Pinwheel' galaxy Messier 33. Unfortunately the weather that evening in the UK was totally clouded out, but I was able to capture a wide field shot on the previous evening. 7 x 2 minutes RAW frames at ISO800, stacked using Deep Sky Stacker with the special comet processing feature - works very well! |
 |
|
The same session I obtained an image of 17P/Holmes (on my Holmes page). Here it is superimposed on the Tuttle shot at the same scale. Holmes was 3.5 million miles across the coma at this stage in its extraordinary outburst. 'Mouseover' the medium size image (click on the thumbnail). Both images taken with my Canon 350D and William Optics ZS66 telescope with Astrophysics 0.7 reducer. |
 |
|
In its two and a bit year cycle, Mars was closest to Earth around midnight on December 18th 2007 at which point it was 15.9 arc-seconds in apparent diameter. My seeing is rarely good for planets because of my location in rolling countryside in the lee of the Pennines, never mind the jet stream! But a run of bad weather and worse seeing prevented me obtaining an even half decent image until midnight on 7/8th January 2008, when despite blustery showers the seeing was better than for some time, and I was able to capture a few minutes of reasonable video in between the gusts. With this result. Apparent diameter 14.8 arc-seconds. Toucam and 3x Barlow on 12" LX200R, approximately 800 frames stacked in Registax and finished in Photoshop. |
 |
|
The evening of 10th January 2008 started out with a stiff breeze and the occasional cloud scudding over. I first went for images of Comet 17P/Holmes and 8P/Tuttle. The Holmes image is of course on that page, here is Tuttle. With dire weather forecast for the near future this was almost certainly my last opportunity. In an attempt to capture the tail without too much blurring of the fast moving head I used the Canon 350D on the WO ZS66 with AP reducer and took 7 x 3 minute frames at ISO 1600. Just a hint of a tail! Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker using the special comet/star processing feature. Pure wizardry! |
 |
|
The seeing was again pretty good, so once the clouds broke for a while, Mars was next on the list. Around 1000 frames with the Toucam, 3x Televue Barlow and 12" LX200R. Stacked in Registax and finished in Photoshop. |
 |
|
After some more terrible weather (with severe flooding in the South of England) a brief clear spell in the early evening of 16th January 2008 gave me an opportunity to image comet 17P/Holmes again as it neared the star Algol in Perseus. See Holmes page. Then although Mars was still relatively low in the East (46 deg altitude) and the seeing was poor, I knew that Syrtis Major would be on the face, so as no Mars sequence would be complete without it, I fitted the Toucam to the LX200 with a 3x Barlow with this result. Rather blurry and lacking in detail, but Syrtis Major without a doubt! Taken around 7 pm (1900 UST) |
 |
|
I then had to go out for a few hours, and when I got back home nearing 10 pm (2200 UST) the sky was starting to mist over, but the seeing had stabilised considerably and Mars was at its maximum altitude of 62 degrees. So before the clouds thickened I was able to capture another sequence with this more pleasing result. Mars was now around four weeks past opposition, and the diameter was just under 14 arc-secs. A far cry from the 25 arc-secs maximum of August 2003, but then the maximum altitude for me was around 20 degrees. I think on balance altitude wins! |
 |
|
On 6th May 2008 there was a close conjunction of a young (approximately 30 hour old) Moon and Mercury. I was out in the early evening, but on my journey home saw the beautiful fine crescent Moon lowering in the West. I had forgotten about the conjunction, but determined to photograph the Moon anyway, and there of course was Mercury in the frame as well! This shot was only a 1 second exposure with the Canon 350D at ISO 400 and camera lens at 200 mm zoom. Larger image. |
 |
|
As the sky darkened I tried a 5 second exposure, hoping to improve the Earthshine. But as can be seen the Moon was sinking into a murky western sky, and there was no real improvement. The camera was tripod mounted, not tracking the sky, and in the larger versions the trailing of Mercury over the 5 seconds can be clearly seen. Larger image. |
 |
|
Noctilucent clouds are a Summer phenomenon in the more Northern latitudes, caused by sunlight from below the northern horizon illuminating high ice crystal clouds. A relatively rare and beautiful phenomenon. This example was captured at 0049 British Summer Time (1149 UST) on 20th June 2008, looking North over Hexham. A 15 second exposure at ISO 100 ('Starry Sky' setting) with my recently acquired Panasonic Lumix TZ5 compact camera - a nicely specified and capable miniature digicam. The solitary star upper right is Capella. |
 |
|
The early evening of 1st December 2008 promised an occultation of Venus by a crescent Moon, commencing just on Sunset (15:43), and clearing at 17:12 A further attraction was the close proximity of Jupiter, only 2 degrees away above Venus. The previous evening was reasonably clear, and I took a preview photograph . But sadly after a clear morning the following day, the skies clouded over and I only obtained the faintest glimpse of a clouded Moon and red Venus just as they set - no photo although I was all set. Then of course Sod's law struck with a vengeance and the following night was clear again! So before and after, but nowt in between. Both photos single frames, Canon 350D with zoom lens, 1/10th second at f5, ISO200. |
|
|
While hoping to image comet Lulin (see below) and watching for clear skies, a promising evening on 27th February 2009 gave a lovely clear view of a new Crescent Moon and bright Venus in the Western sky. Single frames with my little Panasonic TZ5, full zoom 10x optical. Set on 'Night scenery'. Works well for this sort of shot. Even the autofocus works beautifully! But see the lurking clouds - they moved in rapidly so no comet that night. |
|
|
Early in 2009 an unusual comet, C/2007 N3 (Lulin) passed by. It's path took it outside the orbit of Earth, almost exactly on the ecliptic, and in February it developed an 'anti-tail'. Information on the discovery and an image here. Alas almost the whole of February was clouded out here in NE England, so I saw nothing of that. But at the end of the month a couple of clear spells afforded an imaging opportunity. The night of 28th February was reasonably clear, although with a slight haze. And I was able to capture the comet using my Canon 350D and William Optics ZS66 refractor with 0.8 reducer/flattener. 14 sub frames at 2 1/2 minutes. I stacked on the comet then on the stars, and overlaid the comet head on the star image to produce a sensible composite. There was substantial background glow from the haze, but I managed to reduce it in Photoshop, although some contrast was lost. Larger size. Note the small galaxies seen through the tail just behind the comet head. The bright star at the left of the image is nu Leonis. |
 |
|
The following evening (1st March) was again clear although clouds rolled in later, and so another shot at Lulin under better skies produced this composite, this time from 15 frames at 2 1/2 minutes. The comet was visibly fainter as it receded from the Sun. With the uncooled Canon chip, even though I had subtracted a dark frame, I wasn't sure whether the multiple tiny 'stars' were real, or just hot pixel noise. So I overlaid a Skymap picture on part of the image. And sure enough the stars were real! See here for a 'mouseover' showing the overlay. Larger size. The bright star at the left of the image is psi Leonis. |
 |
|
The Freeware program Deep Sky Stacker is very useful for processing RAW images from my Canon DSLR, and has a particularly clever comet stacking feature. Using it on the data gives a slightly different 'take' on the image. Smoother, but with some loss of the faintest stars and some faint background streaking. I'm not 100% sure which I prefer, so here it is for you, gentle reader, to decide for yourself! |
|
|
After one or two comments and further deep thought (!) I combined what I considered to be the best of the two processings - the comet from the second and the background from the first, with adjustments to both, with this result. That's all folks! |
|
|
I seldom do planetary imaging now - although I have decently dark skies at my Hexham home, it's position in the lee of the Pennines means I rarely get good enough seeing conditions. But 20th April 2009 was an exception with high pressure, slight mist and no wind, so rather than have no record of Saturn with the rings nearly closed, I fired up my Toucam on my 12" LX200 ACF with 3x Barlow. Stacked approx 700 frames out of 1800. Reasonably happy - banding and ring shadow visible and just a hint of the Cassini division. |
 |
|
The light Summer nights don't give many opportunities for stargazing, but we do occasionally have a show of beautiful noctilucent clouds, not seen from more southerly latitudes. And the night of 17/18th June 2009 saw a good display looking North over Hexham. Taken around 0030 BST (British Summer Time). Panasonic TZ5, 15 seconds at ISO 100 (Starry Sky setting). 'Mouse over' the medium size image (click on the thumbnail) for star names. |
 |
|
Another noctilucent cloud, this time on 19th July 2009. Taken looking North over Hexham around 11:20 pm. The cloud was isolated and soon dispersed, but reminded me of a whale cruising through the sky! The bright star in the middle is Capella. Panasonic TZ5 camera, 15 seconds using the 'Starry Sky' setting. Larger image. This image was published in the October 2009 issue of Astronomy Now. |
 |
|
During a trip to Les Granges in 2009, on 24th September I was able to capture Jupiter in decent seeing with Olly Penrice's 10" LX200 OTA and my Toucam. Stack of 1100 frames. The moon shadow is from Ganymede. |
 |
|
Early April 2010 saw a nice evening conjunction of Venus and Mercury, and I was able to capture this photo on 7th. Panasonic TZ5 in Night Scenery mode - the camera set itself at 8 secs, f4.8, ISO 100. |
 |
|
On 15th April, Venus and Mercury (now considerably fainter) were due to be joined by a very thin New Moon . I was expecting to be clouded out and indeed that was the case later. But earlier in the evening the weather gods were smiling and I was able to get this photo. Similar framing to the last one, (taken from the middle of the road just outside my front gate - just as well there's not much traffic!) but I pushed down the decrepit footpath sign which intruded in the last pic looking rather like a house end in silhouette! Very murky horizon - a cloud of volcanic dust from an
eruption on Iceland (Eyjafjallajökull volcano) was
drifting over Europe and caused almost all air traffic to be
grounded for several days with consequent massive and costly
disruption. Maybe the murk is down to that. |
 |
|
An image made available by NEODAAS/University of Dundee which shows the volcanic ash plume from Iceland, top left, to the north of Britain as received by NASA's Terra Satellite at 11.39 GMT Thursday April 15, 2010. All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries were suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moved south. The UK's air traffic control service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in UK airspace until at least 0700 BST on Friday amid fears of engine damage. The airspace restriction was the worst in living memory, a spokesman said. Photo: NEODAAS/University of Dundee/AP |
 |
|
When Jupiter reappeared from behind the Sun in 2010, it was immediately noticed that the Southern Equatorial Belt had dramatically faded! On August 31st I had reasonably steady skies and was able to obtain this image - a composite of 1000 frames with the Philips Toucam on the 12" LX200ACF at f 30. Sure enough, no SEB. |
 |
|
A stable high pressure system established during the second week of October 2010, but unfortunately most of the period for me was plagued by cloud from the North Sea. But the sky cleared beautifully on the night of 16th. There was a bright gibbous Moon, so I first tackled Jupiter. Some software problems meant I just missed the Great Red Spot - disappearing bottom right. But the bonus then was Io just kissing the planet. Ganymede shadow and the moon to the right. Toucam on 12" LX200ACF with 3x Barlow. One of my better planetary images! |
 |
|
During a prolonged period of wet and cloudy weather a clear window of a few hours on October 1st gave me an opportunity to image comet 103P Hartley as it passed near NGC281 - the 'Pacman' nebula. This comet was discovered by Malcom Hartley in Australia on March 15, 1986 and has an orbital period of about 6.5 years, so this was its third known pass. Very high in the sky with the tail pointing away, so only the coma visible. Estimated at around 7th magnitude, and was just visible in my 15x50 binoculars. SBIG ST-4000XCM and Canon 400L telephoto lens (400 mm focal length) stopped down to approx. 7.1 using an external mask. 21 sub frames x 3 minutes, stacked using the special comet feature of Deep Sky Stacker. Full size (913KB) There are also animations of the comet head as it moved across the sky during the hour or so of the exposures, cropped from the full size. AVI (748KB) DivX Codec. Or for those who don't have the codec, GIF (3.57 MB) This animation was used in the November 2010 'Sky at Night' TV programme. |
|
|
While Earth based telescopes only succeeded in capturing a dot surrounded by a greenish glowing coma, this image was captured by NASA's EPOXI mission between Nov. 3 and 4, 2010, during the spacecraft's flyby of comet Hartley 2. It was captured using the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD |
 |
|
On 2nd September 2011 comet P1 Garradd was due to pass close to the 'hook' of Collinder 33 - the Coathanger asterism. But the forecast for that night (and those either side) was dismal, and unfortunately proved to be correct for my part of the country. However the weather did relent briefly on the evening of 30th August, and I was able to get a wide field image of the comet and Coathanger prior to the close encounter. 10 x 5 minute exposures with my Canon 350D camera and a 200 mm camera lens. Larger image. This image appeared in the Gallery section of the November 2011 Astronomy Now magazine, and again (cropped) in the April 2012 'Sky Diary' section |
 |
|
I don't often do planetary imaging - my location in the lee of the Northern Pennines rarely has good enough seeing. And the night of 27th October 2011 was no exception. So the lack of fine detail is reflected in the image. But Jupiter was so big and high at that time I just had to give it a try! 1200 frames (2 minutes worth) captured in K3CCDTools, stack of 600 frames in Registax, finished in Photoshop. Toucam on 12" Meade ACF with 3x Barlow. |
 |
|
Jupiter was big and bright during Autumn 2011, but as usual my sky conditions have been dismal - poor seeing when there weren't clouds! But on the evening of 7th December 2011 the shadow of Io was due to pass across the GRS during its transit. Too good to miss, and a clear evening was forecast. Alas as usual the forecasters got it wrong - a weather front approached earlier than expected, and several swathes of cloud limited the sequence to only a few frames. The seeing was absolutely atrocious, worsening as the weather deteriorated. I'd hoped someone would have had better conditions than me, but I haven't seen anything on the 'net. But at least I got something, so here is the animated GIF. Each (half size when clicked on the thumbnail) frame made up of around 500 to 600 subs, Toucam on 12" Meade LX200ACF OTA. Unfortunately very poor quality due to the bad conditions. |
|
|
A couple of nights later (December 9th) conditions were a little better though far from ideal. This shot shows the Great Red Spot, without a moon shadow this time, but with Ganymede in the frame. Again several hundred sub frames, Toucam on 12" LX200 ACF |
|
|
Mars becomes a bright object every 2 years or so, and March 2012 sees its closest approach of the apparition. Not particularly close this time around, reaching approximately 14 arc-seconds maximum size. Seeing is rarely good enough for me to obtain good planetary images, and the night of 5th March was no exception! But after capturing the colour data for Melotte 15 I gave it a go with this result. At least some surface features are visible as indicated. Toucam on 12" ACF with 3x Barlow, approximately 450 out of 900 sub frames combined. |
 |
|
This was from Kielder on the night of 25th March 2012. Comet Garradd with its interesting tails. I wanted to capture as much of the tails as possible, so ended up with 40 x 5 minute subs! All monochrome, QSI 683 binned 2x2 on ZS66 with MkII reducer flattener. With the big 8300 chip, still not fully flattened, but just acceptable. I stacked all 40 aligned on the comet head, giving the first image. Unfortunately even median combination didn't lose the stars altogether, but the tails show up well. The second image is aligned on the stars. In that case the comet was just a pale fuzz, so I overlaid the comet from the first pic (using Lighten in Photoshop). Gives some idea of the relation to the star field. I'm going to do an animation, but need more time. Scaled from my image, the (ion?) tail into the corner is at least 8 million kilometres long! |
|
|
There was a fine conjunction of Venus with the Pleiades on the night of 5th April 2012. But so bright in comparison! Stack of 5 x 5 minute subs with darks, Canon 350D with Canon 400L prime lens and f7 round mask. The mask is to reduce diffraction spikes, but it would appear that I've either got diffraction circles (!) or multiple internal reflections. A strange effect! |
 |
