|
Solar System Astrophotography by Chris Fellows Data from SEDS and Nine Planets Home | Astrophotography | Observatory | Equipment | Software | Links | Contact Clusters | Galaxies | Nebula | Solar
|
|||||
| Name | Thumbnail | Description | Image info | ||
| 13 Day Old Moon |
 |
Called
Luna by the
Romans, Selene
and Artemis by
the Greeks, and many other names in other mythologies. The Moon, of course,
has been known since prehistoric times. It is the second
brightest object in the sky after the
Sun. As
the Moon orbits around the Earth once per month, the angle between the
Earth, the Moon and the Sun changes; we see this as the cycle of the Moon's
phases. The time between successive new moons is 29.5 days (709 hours),
slightly different from the Moon's orbital period (measured against the
stars) since the Earth moves a significant distance in its orbit around the
Sun in that time.
Additional Info: The moon @ SEDS
|
Camera = Meade DSI Exposure = .0015 Sec X 15 (composite of 7 separate shots to get entire disk) Processing = IMearge/Photoshop |
|
|
|
New |
Jupiter |
 |
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by
far the largest. Jupiter is more than twice as
massive as all
the other planets combined (the mass of Jupiter is 318 times that of Earth).
Jupiter
(a.k.a. Jove; Greek
Zeus) was the King of the Gods, the ruler of Olympus and the patron of
the Roman state. Zeus was the son of
Cronus
(Saturn). Jupiter is the fourth
brightest
object in the sky (after the
Sun, the Moon and
Venus). It has been
known since prehistoric times as a bright "wandering star". But in 1610 when
Galileo first
pointed a telescope at the sky he
discovered Jupiter's four large moons
Io,
Europa,
Ganymede and
Callisto (now known
as the Galilean moons) and recorded their motions back and forth
around Jupiter. This was the first
discovery
of a center of motion not apparently centered on the Earth. It was a major
point in favor of
Copernicus's
heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets (along with other new
evidence from his telescope: the phases
of Venus and the
mountains on the Moon).
Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory got him in trouble with
the Inquisition.
Today anyone can repeat Galileo's observations (without fear of retribution
:-) using binoculars or an inexpensive
telescope.
Additional Info: Juitper @ Nine Planets |
Camera = Meade DSI Exposure = .0625 Sec X 150 Frames Processing = Photoshop Conditions = Fair
| |
| Saturn |
 |
Saturn is the sixth planet from the
Sun and the second
largest.
Saturn has been known since prehistoric times.
Galileo was the
first to observe it with a telescope in
1610; he noted its odd appearance but was confused by it. Early observations
of Saturn were complicated by the fact that the Earth passes through the
plane of Saturn's rings every few years as Saturn moves
in its orbit. A low
resolution
image of Saturn therefore changes drastically. It was not until 1659 that
Christiaan Huygens
correctly inferred the geometry of the rings. Saturn's rings remained unique
in the known solar system until 1977 when very faint rings were discovered
around Uranus (and
shortly thereafter around
Jupiter and Neptune).
Additional Info: Saturn @ Nine Planets |
Camera = Meade DSI Exposure = .0125 Sec X 50 Processing = IMearge/Photoshop
|
|
Home | Astrophotography | Observatory | Equipment | Software | Links | Contact |