It has been a few months since I lived on Jupiter.

This dynamic planet is slow for the next few years, I can’t see it from my observatory as it remains hidden behind the nearby trees.

I now set up my Mak and tracking mount at the other end of the garden so I can catch it just above the treeline. As an aside, this is giving me time to practice using my travel set up ahead of our club trip to Tenerife where Jupiter, Mars and Saturn won’t be skudding around the horizon.

This video taken on the night 5-6 May shows Europa, visible as a white disc, transiting over the cloud surface with its dark shadow alongside.  Note it is in black and white as I am using an IR filter.  With the planets so low, I can barely resolve the cloud belts in the optical waveband – even when using an ADC.

5-6 May 2018 2205-0037Z

The next night, Ganymede was transitting over the cloud tops.  This was slightly earlier in the evening so I missed the transit itself while Jupiter remained behind the trees but did get an excellent view of the Great Red Spot.

6-7 May 2018 2256-0001Z

 

Technique

• I took 2 minutes of video every 5 minutes in FireCapture and then processed them with AS3, registax wavelets and then finished in photoshop.
• Telescope is a second hand Skywatcher 150 Mak on an AZ Goto tracking mount.  ASI224MC, 685nm IR filter at f18.