Jupiter 2018

The Planet Jupiter + GRS - Meade 127mm. Apo Refractor with Barlow lens at F 22.5 - QHY5-11 Colour Planetary camera - 19th-20th April 2018 - credit: Pip Stakkert 

" The weather in Lowestoft had been rather good for a number of days so Pip Stakkert, our Imaging Team leader at the Jodrell Plank Observatory, pointed the 127mm. Refractor at Jupiter. Sadly, Jupiter is very low this year and near the southern horizon from our location of Latitude 52.4833 North. The images he therefore obtained obliquely through our atmosphere are detrimentally affected by chromatic dispersion, atmospheric heat instabilities and pollution. However blurry the view, keeping an eye on the 'king of the planets' is always a priority at the Jodrell Plank Observatory". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Wide-field view showing the innermost Galilean moon Io

"Io is pulled and pushed by the the gravitational tidal forces exerted by Jupiter and its other Galilean moons, this imparted energy creates constant and violent volcanic activity in and on this small moon." - Archie Mendes visiting mathematician and astrophysicist. 

More Information about the moon Io

Wide-field view showing  Galilean moons Io and Callisto

The Planet Jupiter + GRS - Meade 127mm. Apo Refractor with Barlow lens at F 22.5 - QHY5-11 Colour Planetary camera - 19th-20th April 2018 - credit: Pip Stakkert 

The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros

The Rosette Nebula or NGC 2237 and the open star cluster NGC 2244 - Altair Astro 66mm. Doublet Refractor - 0.8x focal reducer and field flattener, Canon 600D DSLR  - Credit Pip Stakkert

The Rosette Nebula in a wide-field context - Altair Astro 66mm. Doublet Refractor - 0.8x focal reducer and field flattener, Canon 600D DSLR  - Credit Pip Stakkert

NASA composite image of the Rosette Nebula

"On his return from Berlin, Pip Stakkert has taken time out from his busy work schedule to rework some data captured by the Jodrell Plank Observatory in autumn 2017. The Rosette Nebula and the open star cluster NGC 2244 are located 5000 light years distant from Earth in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn. The Rosette is an example of an emission nebula in which young hot stars excite hydrogen atoms in the nebula causing them to emit radiation themselves. The nebula is approximately 130 light years in diameter and is just one part of a much larger molecular cloud. The nebula is an active stellar nursery and the stars which make up the open cluster NGC 2244 were indeed formed from the gravitational collapse of nebula matter. The young and very hot stars have, through their intense radiation, cleared a central 'bubble' in the nebula. The open cluster may be spotted through binoculars but the nebula requires a telescope and long exposure guided photography to display its coloured presence and finer detail". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula

The Running Man 'reflection' Nebula sitting above the Orion Nebula - 2018 - Composite of images taken with both the Altair Astro 66mm. Doublet and the Meade 127mm Apo refractors using Canon 400D and 600D DSLR cameras. - Image credit: Pip Stakkert.

"The Running Man Nebula is a reflection nebula. The Orion Nebula is an emission nebula.  Reflection Nebulae are created by clouds of dust which simply reflect the light from nearby hot bright stars - in the case of the Running Man Nebula the light being reflected probably originates from the stars 42 Orionis, 45 Orionis and KX Orionis. Emission Nebulae shine because interstellar gas is ionised by high energy photons emitted by nearby stars". -Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.