Jupiter

I'm rather fond of this picture of Jupiter for rather sentimental reasons.  It shows Jupiter in its opposition earlier this year and two of the 4 Galilean moons, in this case Io and Europa.  Ganymede and Callisto are out of the frame.  The reason for favour is because this is the first ever astronomical picture that I took shortly after getting the Meade LX90.  The telescope shipped with the Meade LPI (Lunar and Planetary Imager), which I have omitted to include in the Equipment section of this site, for no better reason than that I haven't taken any other pictures with it since because I acquired the DSI.  This is the true image taken at f10 with the 8" LX90 through the LPI - I had no focal reducer, nor any filters.  I cannot remember anything about the date, time or viewing conditions when this picture was taken.  It needed minimal processing to bring out the detail of the surface of the planet as well as keeping the luminosity of Io and Europa using Paint Shop Pro 7.  This picture is proof that an amateur with no experience of astrophotography can take reasonable (okay, not with scientifically relevant detail...) decorative photographs of the space around planet Earth.

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