Io transiting jupiter's great red spot

Jupiter put on a nice show for west coast observers last weekend: Jupiter's moon Io and it's shadow transited the planet's surface just as the great red spot (GRS) was rotating into view.  

Io and shadow transiting Jupiter's great red spot
11/12/2023 06:45.8 UTC
CM1 331.7 CM2 46.6 CM3 86.7 CLat +3.8
Winjupos combination of 4x90 sec captures with independent processing of Io

The dark circle to the left of the great red spot is Io's shadow.  Io hovers over the top portion of the GRS. Close inspection of Io reveals detail on the jovian moon: dark patches top and bottom with a bright equatorial region.

Io and shadow transiting Jupiter's great red spot
11/12/2023 06:35.7 UTC
CM1 325.5 CM2 40.5 CM3 80.6 CLat +3.8

Animation of Io transit (larger version below):

Io and shadow transiting Jupiter's great red spot
11/12/2023 05:19-8:05 UTC

imaging details:
Eastbluff, CA
11/12/23 
still shot 06:35.7 UTC
CM1 325.5 CM2 40.5 CM3 80.6 CLat +3.8

winjupos shot 06:45.8 UTC

CM1 331.7 CM2 46.6 CM3 86.7 CLat +3.8
celestron 11" Edge HD
ZWO ASI 290MC (one shot color camera)
2x barlow
90 second captures at 5 minute intervals

05:19-08:05 UTC
FPS (avg.)=102
Shutter=2.976ms
Gain=351 (58%)
Histogramm=78%

animation scaled to 50%

i'm guessing capturing at higher histogram level facilitates detail on the jovian moons

software:
firecapture
autostakkert
winjupos (for CM measurement only)
registax
photoshop

started with poor seeing, which fortunately improved during the GRS transit

very dry so dew was not an issue

unfortunately, collimation was way off. wondering if i focused from the wrong direction, introducing mirror flop.  might be time for a crayford focuser.

on the plus side, it's rare for me to capture detail on a jovian moon, so a win despite poor collimation.  

PS full scale animation processed for frames with better seeing:

Io and shadow transiting Jupiter's great red spot
11/12/2023 05:19-8:05 UTC

jupiter near opposition 2023

jupiter is bright in the evening sky now.  well positioned for northern hemisphere viewers, it transits just before midnight at an altitude of almost 70 degrees from my location.  

here's jupiter on halloween night, shortly before opposition, the seeing wasn't as good as i'd hoped, but managed to salvage something:

  

Jupiter 11/1/2023 06:53 UTC
little red spot
just above center?

imaging details

eastbluff, CA

11/1/23 06:43-0658 UTC

CM1 37.8, CM2 196.6, CM3 233.7

celestron 11" Edge HD

ZWO ASI 290MC (one shot color camera)

2x barlow

ZWO ADC

baader IR/UV block filter

best 5  of 90 second captures from 06:43-06:58 UTC

FPS (avg.)=27-110

Shutter=3.174ms

Gain=351 (58%)

Histogramm=32%

inadvertantly put the ADC after the barlow

resulting in massive over magnification on a night of mediocre seeing :(

interestingly, learned that displaying the very large image during capture on my laptop monitor slowed the capture rate

viewing at 25% improved the capture rate

downsampled to 37.5 % :(

software:

firecapture

autostakkert

winjupos

registax

photoshop

Annular eclipse at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 10/14/23 part III: super-annular eclipse montage and animations

 You may recall that there was a supermoon in late september.  the corollary to this is a "micro-moon" crossing the face of the sun during the solar eclipse at the subsequent new moon, resulting in an annular eclipse rather than a total eclipse 😢

or, to look on the "bright side" a super-annular eclipse with the widest band possible.

in creating a montage of the partial phases, i viewed the annular phase and decided on a clock-like arrangement with small images of partial phases forming a ring around the annular eclipse.  after meticulously arranging the partial phases, i looked at what i had done...not exactly what i was going for, but i'll take it.

flower power!
annular solar eclipse and preceding partial phases 10/14/23
balloon fiesta park, albuquerque, NM
(click for full size)

more conventional montage:

annular solar eclipse and preceding partial phases 10/14/23
balloon fiesta park, albuquerque, NM

partial phases:

annularity animation:

the disturbance mid capture above is likely due turbulence from the burners firing off in the field at annularity :(

Annularity 10/14/23
Balloon Fiesta Field
Albuquerque, NM

if  you look at the final images of annularity, you'll note that the moon does not contact the sun evenly.  mountain peaks contact the sun first:

3rd contact
10/14/23

by offsetting each image (captured at 4 frames per second) by 1 pixel, one can generate a magnified image of the lunar surface:

magnified moon mountains
lower left
Cf. APOD

bigger partial phases
click for full size

field view/filtered view composite:

click for full size

sky view of above:

click for full size

Imaging details:
10/14/23
Albuquerque, NM
nikon D850
AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR
Baader solar film, Fotga IR/UV cut filter
iso 100 1/1250-1/2000 sec exposure
Vello Shutterboss Version II Timer Remote Switch
skywatcher star adventurer tracking mount

Samsung galaxy S22 ultra

for field shot and filtered cellphone image

filter

the final 2 composites are a combination of the cell phone view of the field and nikon filtered images of the sun, scaled down to the sky view size and positioned roughly in the appropriate location in the sky