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Solar System

Jupiter

Image Story

Jupiter was one of the main reasons I became interested in astrophotography in the first place.

As a visual observer I had already seen its cloud bands through a telescope, but capturing those details with a camera felt like an entirely different challenge. Planetary imaging requires patience, good seeing conditions and a surprising amount of processing to overcome the effects of Earth’s atmosphere.

This image was created from tens of thousands of individual frames recorded over several minutes. The final result reveals structure in Jupiter’s atmosphere that is impossible to appreciate in a single video frame.

What amazes me most is that every visible detail is part of a planet so large that more than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it. Yet from our perspective it appears as a tiny bright dot in the night sky.

Acquisition

Channel Exposure Gain Videos Duration per Video Total Duration Total Frames Captured Frame Rate
RGB 10ms 100 10 60s 10m 59886 99.5fps

Processing Workflow

  1. 1 Captured ten SER videos in SharpCap.
  2. 2 Centred and quality sorted in PIPP.
  3. 3 Stacked frames in AutoStakkert! 3.
  4. 4 Sharpened individual stacks.
  5. 5 Measured and derotated the sequence in WinJUPOS.
  6. 6 Applied final colour and contrast adjustments.
Jupiter showing cloud bands and atmospheric detail.