Strongly Celestial

Looking outward; looking backward in time...

About | Launchpad | Gallery | Contact

Planet Gallery

These are my pictures of the planets in our solar system. As with all of my galleries, click on the picture itself to bring up a larger, scaleable copy of the picture in a separate window; be sure to expand that window to see the full size of the image!

Subject: Saturn
Date Taken: 5/30/2011

Equipment:
Orion Mak-Cassegrain 180mm
Orion StarShoot IV Solar System imager
Registax 6 stacking of .avi file

Comments
Shortly after getting my Mak-Cass telescope, Saturn began its nightly parade in the sky at a conveniently early hour. It quickly became a favorite target, as it is bright and easy to find, thus provided ample opportunity for learning how to use the telescope and how to image. In fact, I visited Saturn so often, my kids actually said: "Do we have to look at Saturn again???". This image is the best I could do at that time, given my early learning curve with the equipment. Note the slight banding on the surface and the deliniation of the rings.

Subject: Jupiter
Date Taken: 11/5/2011

Equipment
Orion Mak-Cassegrain 180mm
Orion StarShoot IV Solar System imager
Registax 6 stacking of .avi file

Comments
Jupiter was visible all summer, but only deep in the middle of the night. Starting in the early winter, it started rising early enough for me to (finally) switch over from Saturn to Jupiter. The little black spot just to the left and below the center of the planet is not a speck of dust in my system.... by pure luck I happened to catch the moon Io when it was in transit across the front of Jupiter, and that is its little shadow!

Subject: Jupiter
Date Taken: 2/2/2012

Equipment
Orion Mak-Cassegrain 180mm
Orion StarShoot IV Solar System imager
Registax 6 stacking of .avi file

Comments
Although not as dramatic (or colorful) as the image taken in 11/2011, I am including this shot of Jupiter....because I spent quite a while getting it on a cold winter night! Fun facts about Jupiter:

• It is the largest planet in our solar system at ~10x the earth's diameter
• It has 2.5x the mass of all the other planets combined
• It is composed of ~75% hydrogen and ~25% helium (+ trace others) and thus is closest to the composition of the sun (and is often referred to as a "failed star" in that it's not big enough to form a true star)
   

Subject: Jupiter and moons
Date Taken: 11/30/2011

Equipment
Orion Mak-Cassegrain 180mm
Canon T2i w/ 2x Barlows

Comments
I find the view of Jupiter's moons and their endless dance around the planet fascinating to see. In this image, all four of the moons are visible and are (from left to right): Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Io orbits Jupiter fastest at 1.7 days to make the trip around the planet. Europa takes 3.5 days, Ganymede 7.1 days, and Callisto takes longest at 16.7 days.

Note that Jupiter itself is washed out in this image because I exposed it long enough to clearly pick up the moons.
 

Subject: Jupiter and moons
Date Taken: 11/7/2011

Equipment
Orion Mak-Cassegrain 180mm
Canon T2i w/ 2x Barlows

Comments
I took this image because I saw struck by the beautiful curve of the moons as they stretched out away from Jupiter. Again, Jupiter itself is over exposed to allow enough light in to clearly pick up those moons.

Fun fact: Io, the inner most moon, is the most volcanic object in our solar system. The tremendous tidal force caused by its close orbit around Jupiter "flexes" the surface, causing internal friction which generates heat and forms volcanos. There are >400 active volcanos on the surface of Io!