Photo of the Week for January 19, 2018
If you’re a planet watcher, one of the highlights of the year occurs when Jupiter emerges from the Sun’s glare in morning twilight and finally climbs high enough to offer rewarding views in a telescope. Since Jupiter oppositions happen at 13-month intervals, this annual event takes place one month later each year. The brilliant planet reached opposition last April, which means it’ll do so again this May. But you don’t have to wait until Jupiter is closest to examine its captivating array of belts and spots—or photograph them. Right now. big Jove is a prime, dawn sight.
This nicely detailed Jupiter portrait was captured in April 2016 (a month after opposition) by Pete Barbaro, from his backyard in downtown Windsor, Ontario. He acquired the image data with a Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (fitted with a Celestron 3× Barlow lens) and Imaging Source DBK21 CCD video camera.
