Single still image using Canon EOS T1i processed a little using preview to bring out details. This was a still image I took holding the camera up to a 25mm Plossl eyepiece which was in a 2x barlow. This gave a 12.5 mm focal length. The power of the eyepiece view can be calculated by dividing the focal length of the eyepiece/barlow combination into the focal length of the main mirror/objective. In this case 3911mm/12.5 will give us the power. That gives us 312 power. So this is what Jupiter looked like (in the camera) looking through the eyepiece.
Naked eye you saw basically the same amount of detail. The colors may be slightly more bright in this photo than you'd see in the eyepiece. This is due to the color sensors in a camera being more sensitive to colored light than those in our eyes. Our eyes are only 5% efficient at getting color information, the camera chip in a typical DSLR is 70% efficient.
For low light photos and even photos of the planets, the camera can show much more color than the eyes will see. Also with very low light targets that are faint, only our black and white sensors in our eyes will fire from the dim light. This is why faint objects only look to be black and white. When we take photos of them with good equipment, we can see color in the photos, but not with the naked eye through the telescope.
In may ways, the naked eye and visual observing is at a disadvantage to photography. We can't take a timed exposure. We can't digitally "stack" all the good images and throw away the bad ones that are blurry and moving. We have a lot of disadvantages. Also many of the photos you see are timed exposures and show a lot of detail you will never see with your eyes, even through the largest available telescopes. So some people are disappointed by what they see when looking at faint fuzzy objects that are very dim. Some items in space, usually the moon, Saturn and Jupiter, may show more details through a large telescope than a quick photo can show. You may see more detail than a fast, single exposure can show. This photo is a pretty good example and pretty close to what we could see last night. It's a little larger than it would appear in the eyepiece.
With higher power, we start seeing the effects of the atmosphere more and detail starts to break down as we are seeing more distortions in the air currents and our weather. There's a lot more I could say, but I'll keep the post short.
Tonight the observatory will be open and we will be able to look at the moon early on, around 7PM. Later in the evening, around 9PM we won't be viewing the moon, because it will have set but Jupiter will be getting higher in tonight's sky and we will be able to see it in the C14. It will look very clear and you should see much detail, like you'd see in that photo above.
The Great Red spot is visible in the photo above. It rotates around the planet and may be in view or out of view, I have to check some common astronomy programs to see where it will be and they are not on this computer. If it's out we'll likely see it and hopefully with as much detail as you can see in the above photo. There is really much more detail being seen in Jupiter lately because it's near opposition, almost exactly opposite of the sun in the night sky. It will be in opposition, in December.
Saturn is setting with the sun now and not visible in the night sky. We were looking at Saturn and Mars earlier in the year, when they were higher in the sky. Mars is somewhat visible early near sunset, but it's getting so close to the sun and sets so close being low, it's not a very good target and it's best viewed with a telescope outside of the observatory, due to it's very low position. We probably won't see Mars tonight. Venus can be seen early in the morning before the sun rises.
We will be able to view Uranus and Neptune as well in the early evening around, better before 8PM.
An early object to look at:
M57 - The Ring Nebula. Those arriving early in the evening may be able to view the Ring Nebula. It's a planetary nebula that looks like a faint smoke ring. It has a couple of faint stars inside it that are about as faint as the minor planet Pluto. These stars can be seen in photographs, but it's not likely that you'll see them with the C14 visually. You'll see the smoke ring. You can even see it with low powered telescopes. You can see it through my binocular telescope at 36x, but the ring looks very small at lower powers and looks much better at higher powers, that a larger telescope like the C14 can provide.
M42 - The Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is always a favorite and bright deep sky object to view. It will be 13 degrees above the horizon at 10PM. We are better off viewing it when it's higher over 18 degrees. So we will probably start viewing it for those who want an early peek at it around 10:30PM. It will look better later in the evening for those who can stay out. Some telescopes outside will be able to show it earlier, because they don't have a wall in the way for low horizon viewing. But it looks better as it's up higher in the sky and objects close to the horizon have more atmosphere and sky glow disturbance.
We can also see M42 in the night sky. It will look better later at night
M45 - The Subaru. (So popular the Japanese named a car company after it.)
An open cluster also called the Pleiades (seven sisters) is a nice view throughout the evening. It will continue to be high in the sky. It's better viewed at really low powers, with binoculars or a wide field telescope. I'll have Big Bertha out, which is a rich field telescope and can show the entire cluster as well as my binocular telescope which can show the cluster as well. We can also view it with the Meade refractor inside the observatory. We may also look at another open cluster, a pair of them called "the double cluster".
The moon often looks 4 to 8 times better in detail than a "quick photo" can show. Looking at the moon through a telescope visually is often more rewarding than the "quick" photos I may take of it.
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