Jupiter-Lightbridge 16 Canon T2i

Date & Time: 2/7/2013 1h 30m UT
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 16, 2” 2x Barlow (f/9)
Camera: Canon Rebel T2i, remote switch cable
Adapters: EOS to T-thread, T-thread to 1.25” nose piece
Filter: None
Exposure: 4x1/250sec, ISO 1600 saved as RAW
Mirror lock-up: On, 5 second pause to allow vibrations to settle
Software: Digital Photo Professional, Photoshop Elements 6

The seeing wasn’t supposed to be very good this evening, but Jupiter looked pretty good so I decided to try grabbing a set of images with my T2i. I set the focus using a Bahtinov mask while looking through the viewfinder at Aldeberan and then swung over to Jupiter. I placed the planet so that it was just off center and timed it so that it would be near the center when I took a single image. This proved to be pretty easy and I took a total of 15 still frames, but for this image I only used the first 4. I used Digital Photo Professional to convert the RAW images to TIFFs that Photoshop Elements 6 could read. I loaded the four source images into PSE, converted them to 8 bit, copied them onto 3 layers over the first image and aligned them manually. I then set the blending mode to normal, the opacity of the three layers to 50%, 33%, and 25%, and flattened the image. This was rotated, cropped, and mildly sharpened. For a simple test I was really pleased at how well this turned out. Note Ganymede to the left and Io to the right.

I can tell this photo is a little over exposed, you should be able to bring the ISO down which will give you a bit more dynamic range and less noise, as well as making your exposure a little more correct. Also, try using registax and you would be surprised how much more detail you can get after using wavelets. Other than this, it's a great shot. Just my .02.

Also, less exposure will make it so you can't see the moons. In this case, you could use 2 images, and composite them together in photoshop, which will make it show the moons as well as the correctly exposed jupiter!

Clear skies.

Actually I tried Registax, which is why I took 15 source images. However, I've never been able to get Registax to work with full-frame DSLR images. We're already back under clouds, so I'll be working with the source images for a bit yet. I agree about the exposure, I'll tinker a bit to find the right mix of gain and exposure time. It has been a long time since I've done any undriven imaging. I think the last time I did something like this it was on Tri-X!

Anyway not bad at all

Very nice picture !

I like it a lot!! What a great idea, I never thought to try planets at a fast shutter like that.