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Jupiter Nov. 28, 2011		 28.11.2011 / 18:07 UT

Jupiter with GRS

Nearly the same position as on Nov. 13. Note the drift of the white oval south of the GRS. Seeing was poor this evening and transparency got worse, shortly after this take I gave up!

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.

Jupiter Nov. 21, 2011		 21.11.2011 / 18:20 UT

Jupiter with GRS

Seeing was very unstable this evening. Note the Great Red Spot with some interesting detail.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.

Jupiter Nov 21, 2011		 21.11.2011 / 18:44 UT

Jupiter with GRS

24 min. later on the same evening.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter Nov. 13, 2011 13.11.2011 / 19:37 UTC - 19:39 UTC

Jupiter with Great Red Spot

A small window of fair seeing this evening, the temperature dropped to -3.0 °C.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter Nov 13, 2011 13.11.2011 / 20:47 UTC - 20:48 UTC

Jupiter with Great Red Spot

1:10 h later on the same evening the seeing once again calmed down for a short time.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter October 31, 2011 31.10.2011 / 18:15 UTC - 18:55 UTC

Jupiter with Io and Ganymede (Sahdow)

Nice view through the telescope on this evening. Ganymede is just passing Jupiter's globe, casting a nice shadow on its atmosphere. I think that Ganymede also shows some albedo features on this images, but I must still investigate. Note also Jupiter's moon Io on the left site of the image (just moving out of sight).

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter Oct. 28, 2011 - 22:22 UT 28.10.2011 / 22:22 UT - 22:24 UT

Jupiter At Opposition

Great seeing conditions. I have also created a small animation of Jupiters rotation starting at 22:02 UT and ending at 22:22 UT.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter 22.10.2011 at 21:32-21:33 UT 22.10.2011 / 21.32 UT - 21:33 UT

Jupiter with Io and Great Red Spot

Note also a very dark barge in the NEB. Conditions were very poor this evening with some strong wind shaking the telescope.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RG-RGB filters. South is up.
Jupiter 21.10.2011 21.10.2011 / 22:11 UT - 22:13 UT

Jupiter with new SEB

Poor seeing conditions this evening. The SEB is back.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RG-RGB filters. South is up.
Saturn March 26, 2011 26.03.2011 / 23:41 UT

Saturn - Northern Hemisphere Storm

Compared to my previous Saturn-Image, one bright spot dominates the storm system.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters.
Saturn March 19, 2011 19.03.2011 / 23:30 UT

Saturn - Northern Hemisphere Storm

The storm system still is very prominent in the northern hemisphere. Please click here to view the IR-image, taken 4 min. later at 23:34 UT.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/24). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RGB filters.
Jupiter Nov. 27, 2010 27.11.2010 / 18:28 UT - 18:30 UT

Jupiter (Potential SEB Revival)

On November 9, 2010, the amateur astronomer Christopher Go has observed a bright, white spot in the southern hemisphere, which rapidly erupted and is now considered as the beginning of the SEB revival. The bright spot can be seen near the center of the southern region of the planet.
Jupiter 31.10.2010 31.10.2010 / 20:16 - 20:18 CET

Halloween Jupiter!

SEB still invisible, note the GRS on the planets limb. This image was recorded under very poor seeing conditions.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS. Astronomik RG-RGB filters.
Jupiter and Io 25.07.2010 25.07.2010 / 02:37 - 02:39 CEST

Jupiter and Io

Jupiters moon Io passing right in front of the planet, casting a sharp shadow on the planets disc.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS Astronomik RG-RGB filters
Jupiter 25.07.2010 / 02:59-03:03 CEST 25.07.2010 / 02:59 - 03:03 CEST

Jupiter and Io

Another sharp image from this evening, taken a little bit later than the previous image.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS Astronomik RG-RGB filters
Jupiter 20.07.2010 at 20:50-20:52 CEST 20.07.2010 / 02:50 - 02:52 CEST

Jupiter

After a long break, I finally found the time for some astro-imaging. Note the SEB almost disappeared, there are only some dark spots visible!

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS Astronomik RGB-filters
Mars March 7, 2010 07.03.2010 / 21:46 CET

New Mars Image
Compared to the previous image, the northern polar hood seems to be smaller.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS Astronomik RGB-filters + Baader IR pass filter as luminance layer. The image was resampled to 120%.
Mars Dec. 27, 2009 27.12.2009 / 02:06 CET

Small Mars

My first image of Mars since a long time. The planets apparent size is only 12'', so it is still a tough imaging object. On this night there was strong wind and poor seeing, so I hope I can acquire some better images soon .

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23). TIS DMK 21AF04.AS Astronomik RGB-filters + Baader IR pass filter as luminance layer. The image was resampled to 115%.
Jupiter August1, 2009 01.08.2009 / 1:32 CEST

Jupiter, Callisto and Great Red Spot

Callisto appears at the limb of the planet.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23.1), TIS DMK 21AF04.AS, Astronomik RGB filters. The image is a RG+RGB composite.
Jupiter August 1, 02:20 CEST 01.08.2009 / 02:20 CEST

Jupiter, Callisto, Great Red Spot and Impact Region

50 minutes later than the previous image, now the impact region of the recent comet or asteroid impact comes in sight (note also the movement of Callisto).

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23.1), TIS DMK 21AF04.AS, Astronomik RGB filters. The image is a RG+RGB composite.
ISS 03.07.2009 03.07.2009 / 03:25 CEST

International Space Station (ISS)

I was up late this night to image the ISS...

Celestron 11 XLT at F/10 and Canon EOS 450D SLR camera.
Saturn April 9, 2009 09.04.2009 / 23:20 CEST

Saturn's Moons

Seeing was excellent this evening although the conditions were a little bit unfavorable due to the full Moon. With Saturn, I have also imaged four of its moons, can you find all of them in the picture?

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23.1), TIS DMK 21AF04.AS, Astronomik RGB filters. The image is a RG+RGB composite.

Edit: This picture was published in the German magazine Sterne und Weltraum. (Edition 06/2009 on page 87).
Saturn 31.03.2009 31.03.2009 / 23:12 CEST

Saturn

Compared to the image from March 20, the shadows are a little bit different, indicating that this years opposition already passed by.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/23.1), TIS DMK 21AF04.AS, Astronomik RGB filters. The image is a RG+RGB composite.
Moon 30.03.2009 30.03.2009 / 20:35 - 20:38 CEST

Early Moon

Another test-shot of the Moon with my new APO. Very fine optics!

TMB-LOMO 80/600 in prime focus + Canon EOS 450D. 5 frames were stacked.
Saturn March 20, 2009 20.03.2009 / 23:00 CET

Saturn

On this evening, the seeing was excellent, allowing me to achieve a good result.

Celestron 11 XLT+TeleVue 2.5x Powermate (F/22.8), TIS DMK 21AF04.AS, Astronomik RGB+Wratten#21 filters, the image is a L (Orange+Green) RGB.
The Color of the Moon 08.03.2009

The Colors of the Moon / First Light!

To the human eye, the moon appears almost without color. But if you look more closely, there are differences. In this image, I have carefully enhanced the color information. Now different hues are visible which reveal interesting information about the composition of the material on the moons surface. This picture is a first light image with my new TMB-LOMO 80/600 refractor, great result!

TMB-LOMO 80/600 in prime focus + Canon EOS 450D at ISO 800 and 1/1000s exposure.
Orion Nebula 29.12.2008

The Great Orion Nebula M42

I was just testing my new Canon EOS 450D SLR camera. The camera is "unmodified", so there is a strong IR block filter in place, making M42 rather inappropriate for this test - but the result is quite good. I noticed that the sensor has a very low noise.

Takahashi FS102N at f/8 + Canon EOS 450D. Exposure: 5 x 120s.
Astra Satellites 29.12.2008 / 22:29 CET

The ASTRA Satellites

The ASTRA Satellites provide Europe with TV, Radio and Internet services. The satellites are positioned in an geostationary orbit (36000 km), so they appear always at the same position in the sky. To capture these faint objects, just point your telescope to the right position and turn off the tracking, the stars will move through the field of view and only the satellites will keep position!

Edit: This picture was published in the German magazine Sterne und Weltraum. (Edition 03/2009 on page 102).
Astra Satellite Cluster 29.12.2008 / 21:57 CET - 22.51 CET

Motion of the Astra Satellite Cluster

The image on the left is a combination of multiple pictures taken in a time span of one hour. It clearly shows that even the geostationary Astra satellites are moving slightly. This is caused by small adjustment maneuvers of the satellites.

Canon EOS 450D and Takahashi FS-102N at f/8. Camera RAW's were processed in Adobe Lightroom 3, final touch in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Reprocessing on Jan 29, 2012.
Warning: Image size is 4272 x 2848 px (3.13 MB). :-)
Saturn Dec 28 2008
 28.12.2008 / 03:30 CET

Saturn

Saturn now appears to us at the smallest angle of his rings - what a spectacular sight!

Celestron 11 XLT and 2x TeleVue Barlow. DMK 21AF04AS and Astronomik RGB filters. The image is an R-RGB.
ISS September 27, 2008 27.09.2008 / 20:16 CEST

International Space Station - ATV Undocked

The ATV undocked on September 5, and performed a destructive re-entry into the atmosphere on September 29. On the image one can see that the ATV is missing and at the aft port of Zvezda now docks a Progress (Progress 30).

Celestron 11 XLT in secondary focus + Canon EOS 400D.
ISS 28 July 2008 28.07.2008 / 22:44 CEST

International Space Station

On that evening there was a good transparency of the sky, however the seeing conditions were unfavorable (wobbling stars and low wind on the ground). As a result, there is less detail resolved compared to the previous attempt, but some interesting detail is still visible: The JEM module now lies in the sunlight and the solar panels are in better position. Distance to the ISS was approx. 400km.

Celestron 11 XLT in secondary focus + Canon EOS 400D.
Space Station July 23, 2008 23.07.2008 / 23:45 CEST

International Space Station with ATV, Columbus and JEM-Module

One of my best ISS-pictures so far. Newly arrived ATV, Columbus and JEM modules are clearly visible.

Celestron 11 XLT in secondary focus + Canon EOS 400D.

Edit: This picture was published in the German  magazine Sterne und Weltraum. (Edition 12/2008 on page 102).
Messier 3 05.04.2008 / 07:55 - 09:29 UT

Globular Cluster "Messier 3" (M3)

This image was remotely acquired, using a Takahashi TOA 150 at f 7.0 and a SBIG ST10XME camera of GRAS, New Mexico. L=5x300s (1x1); R,G,B=4x300s (1x1) - total exposure time = 85 min.

For the full res. image, please click here (1056 KB).
Saturn 16.02.08 16.02.2008 / 22:44 - 23:10 CET

Saturn Approaching Opposition

Saturn will be at opposition on Feb. 24 and is now visible the whole night - a good opportunity to practice different imaging techniques...

Edit: Currently there is a discussion about a possible new storm system that recently developed in the southern hemisphere of Saturn. Click here for a contrast enhanced image that might show the storm...
Saturn first light
 08.02.2008 / 23:30 CET

Saturn and "Second Light"

This is my second attempt with the new C11 XLT!

The image is a R-RGB. I was suffering some bad local seeing, but nevertheless the result is promising.
NGC 1365 12.01.2008

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365

This is just a preliminary result (Luminance layer) of Galaxy NGC 1365 in the constellation "Fornax". Hopefully the color series will follow soon...

For more detail, please click on the thumbnail.
M101 05.01.2008 / 06.01.2008

M101 In Ursa Major

Pinwheel Galaxy taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 250 of GRAS.

For more information, please click on the thumbnail.
 
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