In order: Calisto, Europa, Jupiter, Io, Ganymede and to the southeast IOT Cap - HIP105515. This is a composite of two pictures taken one after another at 560mm and at two different exposures placed on a black background and cropped. Some resolutions may see this edit. No other post processing was done to any of these incredible celestial bodies. Pictures taken 10/25/09 @ 7:54pmEST - Carlos Ayala

Very nice, Carlos. - Derrick

Aww Thanks D! - Carlos Ayala

Anyone wanna go half on a German Equatorial Mount??? - Carlos Ayala

*Sigh*... space is HUGE! - Mark Jepsen

Omg, amazing, Carlos!!!! - Carmen

Very nice. I've been trying to just get Jupiter and the moon these past few weeks. - Captain Bubbles

Sweet! It looks really clear. What did you set the white balance at? I know this is converted black and white and all, just wondering what kind of color info the lens/sensor were able to register for Jupiter. - Adrian

@Anika they should be in your southern sky for most of your night and a wide angle will get them both together in the frame. the only problem is capturing any detail in both at the same time is virtually impossible. - Carlos Ayala

If I didn't live on the other side of the continent (and had half the money) I'd go in halves on a GEM. Keeping the camera on Jupiter at that kind of magnification with a crappy tripod is a bear. - Adrian

Oh, I can see them randomly. That's not the problem. It's actually shooting them where they're not blogs of white. I was going to do what you did and stitch together two photos, but the moon pics I've taken have been unusuable. - Captain Bubbles

@Adrian WB is almost always on Auto for these shots. If i am doing long exposures of starscapes in polluted skies i may do Tungsten. and I never convert to B&W. The shot of Jupiter is straight on shot @ 0.8 Seconds F8.0 ISO 1600. The Moon was shot @ 1/30 ISO 100. Both @ 560mm on a tripod. - Carlos Ayala

@Anika you have to keep in mind that what you see of the Moon is sunlight. Always shoot it at ISO100, as though you were shooting in daylight. The actual speed will vary between 1/30 - 1/200, as an example. The shutter speed is dependent on position in the sky and type of moon, for the most part. - Carlos Ayala

@Anika to stitch them, all i did was open both of them in photoshop and place them side by side in a new file. Since i wanted an accurate representation of position in the sky i moved the Moon to where it is in relation to Jupiter. This created a gap. The gap was easily fixed by making the background black. So, 3 layers: black background, the Moon and Jupiter and its neighbors. - Carlos Ayala

So I shouldn't be getting color data on Jupiter at this magnification? I'm probably seeing chromatic aberration from the lens. You saw my photos... the colors on Jupiter and it's glow would switch up depending on how I had the white balance set. Strange, I guess I should look this up. - Adrian

the only way to get any color data at this this magnification is if you track it using a GEM while taking many many many exposures at different lengths and later stacking the frames. If i had to guess, what you (and I) are picking up is actually reflected sunlight. - Carlos Ayala

even this picture needed 73 exposures to get an 'accurate' representation: http://tinyurl.com/yhtp9wj - Carlos Ayala

Crazy! The rovers on Mars shoot like that too. They have filters for the various color wavelengths and they piece the color photos together from these. I want a mount... and filters. :D - Adrian

Oh it's not just color wavelengths they go for it's chemical wavelengths. They can identify chemistry on visible objects with the technique. - Adrian

as for the canon's you can either purchase a modified camera for astrophotography, have your current canon permanently modified, add a filter above the sensor yourself or just wing it like i do. these filters cut out the wavelengths that produce the chromatic aberrations you mentioned and high pressure sodium and mercury light pollution. a GEM and a 800mm telescope with t-adapter is on my Christmas list for sure. - Carlos Ayala

Dude, I have an Oly OM-1MD! In the 70's it was *the* astro-photography camera. ;) It was one of the main reasons I got it. It has mirror lock-up for vibration-free images. Since I don't have a long lens for it, I'm thinking I should just get a telescope with a mount, and an adapter for the camera. But for now it's just a dream. - Adrian

haha yeah man i know the camera, i forgot you had that beast. awesome. unfortunately we are really limited as to what we can realistically photograph without a GEM. we are basically limited to the Moon. all deep sky objects require a GEM at the very least and a decent (fast) lens or telescope. look at this way my 560mm shot is effectively 896mm on my crop (if i have the math right) and thats the best i can do with what i have. - Carlos Ayala

Yep, that's why my plan is to go the scope route when I can do it. Here's some info on the OM-1 for astronomy: http://www.scopereviews.com/om... - Adrian

Great writeup thanks Adrian! - Carlos Ayala

Luna and the Jovian system? *swoon* - Michael W. May

I got some nice moon shots myself the other night - not nearly as good. But you hit the jackpot there. - Roberto Bonini

I think you only take pictures so that I understand my complete lack of skill ;) - RAPatton

Pfft Rap, you give me waaaay too much credit brother. anyone can capture this. :) - Carlos Ayala