O
3

I called those 'amateur' Jupiter photos fake for years, then I saw one through my own scope

For a long time, I thought those super clear pictures of Jupiter with its moons and cloud bands were just edited or taken by pros with huge gear. I figured my basic 6 inch reflector could never get that kind of detail. That changed after I finally bought a decent planetary camera, the ZWO ASI224MC. I stacked about 2,000 frames from a video I took one clear night in October. The result showed the Great Red Spot and two moons clearly, which blew my mind. It turns out the tech for backyard astronomers is just that good now. Has anyone else had a moment where a piece of gear completely changed what you thought was possible?
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
christopher_brown82
Honestly, it's just a picture of a dot in the sky. I get that it's neat you can see a spot on it now, but people act like it's some huge life changing event. It's the same planet that's been up there. A few years ago you were happy just to see it as a disc, now you need to see the storms on it or it's not good enough. Seems like the hobby just becomes about buying the next piece of tech to see a slightly clearer dot.
7
grant826
grant82628d ago
Christopher_brown82 has a point, it's everywhere now. Phones need a new camera every year just to take a slightly brighter night photo. We used to be happy with a blurry concert video, now if it's not 4k it feels like you missed it. Chasing that next tiny upgrade can make you forget why you looked up in the first place.
3
jessejohnson
Stacking frames is a total game changer, trust me.
3