Astrophoto: Moon, Jupiter with the Galilean Moons by Abe Megahed

by dianne on September 1, 2011

Astrophoto: Moon, Jupiter with the Galilean Moons by Abe Megahed

Moon, Jupiter with the Galilean Moons. Credit: Abe Megahed

We’ve featured several astrophotos showing the largest planet in the Solar System – we’ve also seen a lot of the Moon. But these two together in one photo? I don’t think so.

Abe Megahed captured this amazing view of the Moon, Jupiter and Jupiter’s Galilean moons all in one frame on August 20, 2011 at 1:01 AM CST. The moons shown from left to right are Ganymade, Europa, and Callisto with Io lost in the glare of Jupiter.

“Normally, it’s difficult to photograph our moon and Jupiter’s moons together because our moon is so bright that a camera can’t capture the relatively dim moons of Jupiter without our moon appearing overexposed and washed out. However, this time I was lucky since a bank of faint clouds passed in front of our moon, dimming it just enough for a pleasing photograph.”

Abe took this photo using a normal SLR camera and 105mm telephoto. He did not use a telescope or super telephoto lens.

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Tagged as: Astrophotos

  • Ignacio Gonzalez

    105 mm? that is not a lot… did you use any teleconverters?

  • Erik_F

    I saw Jupiter and its moons through a telescope for the first time last night! =D

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Abe-Megahed/791524382 Abe Megahed

    No teleconverters were used but this is cropped a bit (about 50%) from the center of the frame. A 200mm lens would frame the scene nicely with no cropping but my 105mm prime was sharper than my 18-200mm zoom at 200mm. The exposure was 2 seconds at F4. Past about 4 seconds, the earth motion’s motion causes some streaking and my zoom is a bit too slow (F5.6) at 200mm to capture the scene without just a bit of motion blur from earth motion. I find it surprising that you can capture the moons of Jupiter with almost any ordinary camera setup. Note that they are almost 1/2 of a moon diameter in apparent size! My wife can even see the moons with her unaided eyes (I can’t).

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Abe-Megahed/791524382 Abe Megahed

    Rob, excellent analysis. You’re entirely correct that this shot would normally be impossible if not for the clouds. You’re also right that it would be so easy to fake, either through HDR techiques or through blatant cut and paste. This is one single exposure, though. The secret is in those thin wispy clouds. Yes, the do have that much of an effect. To the eye, it looks as if the moon’s brightness is diminished by 1/2 or 1/4 or so, but to the camera, the effect is many times greater due to the much more limited dynamic range of the sensor. Below is a set of links to the unprocessed (well, outside of the camera, at least) images showing the sequence of before, during and after the “eclipse” of the cloud:

    Before (moon and Jupiter uneclipsed):
    http://www.abe-n-doren.com/private/jupiter-moons/DSC_8704.JPG
    During (moon eclipsed, Jupiter uneclipsed) – the shot published in the article:
    http://www.abe-n-doren.com/private/jupiter-moons/DSC_8708.JPG
    After (moon and Jupiter both eclipsed):
    http://www.abe-n-doren.com/private/jupiter-moons/DSC_8709.JPG

    -abe.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Abe-Megahed/791524382 Abe Megahed

    Rob – see comments and links to the original images above.

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