Imaging Jupiter the olde fashioned way!

During the December research meeting Bill explained and demonstrated that modern imaging techniques are not the only option for recording images of the planets. Over the last couple hundred years imaging equipment was pretty much paper and pencil! Sure, the mechanical approach offers way more detail, but drawings provide an apples to apples means of comparing today's Jupiter to Jupiter of a century ago. I'm not so much into gizmos thus I thought that as a Dob user that I was left outside looking in. Not so! Get good, clear magnification between 150 and 200X and even with a non-tracking scope you can pitch in and help with the research effort.

There was another benefit I learned back when I completed the lunar challenge that I'd forgotten about. In preparation for drawing Jupiter I spend a few minutes studying it, making sure I see all the things I think I see. It makes you really focus on details that are otherwise too easily lost. As a result I am seeing more when I observe the planet now. Having a goal like this really makes you stop and smell the roses.

The illustrations here were the result of observing at 204X magnification using a 10" 5.6 Discovery Dobsonian mounted telescope with a 27mm Nagler placed in a Teleview 4X barlow. BTW I had real doubts about a 4X barlow, Televue insisted though that this is not yer Daddy's barlow. They were right, the thing is awesome. After 5 minutes or so of really studying the planet I did a rough sketch, recording every feature I could in terms of size and positioning along with any necessary notes. With my previous study time that just took a few minutes, the time I recorded represents the conclusion of the note-taking part of the process. I then went inside and did a more rendered drawing, following the notes to a tee.

Steve Gale, NJAA President