Stormy weather on Saturn

 Planet, Saturn, Solar System  No Responses »
Jun 092018
 

I am just starting to get a handle on RGB planetary imaging. I took imagery of Saturn in the early morning of the 8th and processed it that afternoon/evening. It took quite a bit of adjusting to get the colors accurate.

North is up in this image. Just visible toward the top are the remains of an atmospheric storm that has been visible in Saturn’s atmosphere since the end of March. Toward the bottom, some of the disk of Saturn is visible through the Cassini division. Earth’s motion around the Sun will put Saturn at opposition on the 27th of this month.

 Posted by at 13:14

Jupiter for JunoCam

 Jupiter, Planet, Saturn, Solar System  No Responses »
Apr 212018
 

The skies have remained clear for the past several days. In addition, Jupiter is now a late night object that clears my treeline by 2300(L). Combined, this has allowed me to pick back up supporting NASA’s JunoCam project. On the 15th/16th I was able to image Jupiter and then Saturn. I had to stay up later than I usually do since Saturn is rising much later than Jupiter. It is also lower in the sky as well.

 
It looks like I will be able to continue taking images of Jupiter until the scheduled end-of-mission for the Juno program. It is possible that NASA will extend the mission if the instrumentation hasn’t succumbed to the planets extreme radiation fields. If not, the Juno spacecraft will be intentionally plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere sometime in July to prevent any inadvertent earthly contamination of Jupiter’s moons.
 

Speaking of Jupiter’s moons, images on the 19th showed the 4 Galilean moons all on one side of the planet so I took an image with a wider field of view. I had to overexpose Jupiter and stretch the image a good bit to make it easier to see the moon Callisto.

 Posted by at 16:44

Well done Cassini!

 General Commentary, Planet, Saturn, Solar System  No Responses »
Sep 152017
 

This morning the Cassini spacecraft entered the atmosphere of Saturn and ultimately became part of the planet it was sent to study.

Artist rendering of Cassini’s atmospheric entry.
Credit: NASA/JPL


The spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on the 1st of July 2004 after a six year trip to the planet. It has been studying Saturn and its rings and moons since that time. One of the first things the spacecraft did was to deploy the Huygens probe toward Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The probe became the first lander on a solar system moon other than our own.

Artist rendering of Huygens’ landing on Titan. Credit: NASA/JPL

Image from the surface of Titan. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/ University of Arizona

There are too many discoveries over the 13 years Cassini spent in the Saturnian system to list. Probably the most surprising was the discovery of geysers erupting from the southern pole of the ice covered moon Enceladus.

Geyser plumes from the southern pole of Enceladus. Credit: NASA/JPL


Subsequent study has revealed the material being ejected from the moon to be salty water carrying organic molecules. This implies the conditions necessary for life exists in the outer solar system in a place scientists never expected.

In addition to the scientific discoveries is the vast archive of images that Cassini took. The beauty of the planet and rings was worth the investment.

Saturn as seen by Cassini.
Credit: NASA/JPL


To the entire Cassini/Huygens team, thank you. Well done.
 Posted by at 10:24

Saturn (13 Jun 2017)

 Planet, Saturn, Solar System  No Responses »
Jun 142017
 

Yesterday’s rain eased off and the clouds cleared around 2300. That gave me an opportunity to open up the dome and get a short series of Saturn images before the clouds closed back in. The atmosphere was fairly steady and the images showed it. Jupiter had already set below my western tree line so I was unable to get any additional images of Jupiter for NASA’s JunoCam project.
 

I was not the only one taking advantage of the clear sky. The other party posed for a selfie on the PTO’s all sky camera.

 Posted by at 20:06

Saturn (13 May 2017)

 Planet, Saturn, Solar System  No Responses »
May 152017
 

The Jupiter session on May 13 went long enough that I decided to stick around a little longer and see how Saturn was looking. Saturn is 17° lower on the southern horizon than Jupiter. That puts it right in the light dome from Eglin AFB and, on the 13th, only 34° high. The atmosphere wasn’t too bad and the resulting images were acceptable.

 Posted by at 21:55
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