Jupiter in April 2026

 Live view on Sunday night from the Jodrell Plank Observatory of the 127mm Meade Refractor 'slewing' to the planet Jupiter, currently just below the stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini.

" Kurt and the JPO team were amazed to discover the 'weather apps' were predicting a clear moonless night for Lowestoft. So, they 'fired up' the Observatory's 127mm apo-refractor to capture some video clips of the 'King of the Planets', Jupiter. The images on the computer seemed quite 'soft' but Kurt decided to keep the team active until 1:00 am, when Jupiter became very low in the west. Prior to the Jupiter data capture session, Kurt had not checked if the jet stream was overhead. The JPO team did wonder, whether the presence of the 'jet stream' was the cause of the soft or less 'sharp' planetary video clips obtained on the night and/or whether Kurt was 'losing it'?

Subsequently, the team's surmise has been proved correct by the current published 'Jet Stream Chart', which indicates a turbulent air stream outlier over Lowestoft.

Pip Stakkert has to date processed one of the video clips and produced the following image, which displays the planet's main features including; the two principal equatorial belts and zones and the 'Great Red Spot' anticyclone.

Jupiter 11-04-2024, Meade 127mm apo refractor, Televue x3 Barlow lens, infra-red cut filter, QHY planetary video camera, 3 minutes Avi.
Image credit: Pip Stakkert at the JPO.

The whole JPO team had their Covid inoculations today and all team members are consequently on reduced duties for a few days. When they resume full activities, more images from this last Jovian session at the JPO, will become available and will be posted in due course" - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO, the UK's most easterly astronomical observatory.

Credits: Enhanced image of the Great Red Spot anticyclone by Jason Major based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS.

Jupiter 03_11_2023 close to opposition but through cloud

 

Jupiter showing 3 moons left to right: Europa, Ganymede and Io.

Jupiter showing two moons: Europa and Ganymede.

Jupiter's disc showing its cloudy atmosphere with two equatorial bands clearly displayed.
North is up in our image.

" Our Instrumentation Engineer, Jolene McSquint Fleming, has been working very hard on the electrical systems at the Jodrell Plank Observatory and today power has been restored. Kurt has yet to reprogramme the LVST software defined radio telescope but has taken the opportunity to download data whilst the telescope has been off-line. Friend of the Observatory, Professor Chrissy H Roberts, has provided invaluable AI advice and time, which may well help to streamline the meteor data analysis process.

The weather took a turn for the better and on 03-11-2023 we were able to rig a temporary electrical supply to the NEQ6Pro mount and capture some Jupiter data using the Meade 127mm apo refractor, x3 Televue Barlow lens and the new QHY5111462c planetary video camera. The last image shown above is the clearest and is a 50% stack of 6000 frames subsequently processed using PIPP, AS3!, Registax6, AstroSharp, AstroClean and AffinityPhoto .2" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

This image was from a stack of the last video clip of the night. (60% of 3000 frames) The high level cloud had dissipated and the atmosphere was at its most stable. Probably the best image of the evening with reasonable detail showing in the equatorial bands and zones. North is up. Credit: Pip Stakkert. 

Applying AI based sharpening software to Planetary and Moon disc data

 

The Martian Disc with Syrtis Major Planum on display 2022

 

Saturn with rings wide open in 2017

Jupiter with the Great Red Spot on display 2022

The full Moon (old data)

" All the above imagery was captured at the Jodrell Plank Observatory in Lowestoft. Our on site digital imagery engineer Pip Stakkert has applied the new freeware AstroSharp to the old data and has made a considerable improvement to the clarity of these images. The Jodrell Plank Observatory is indebted to the many software developers who make the fruits of their labours available at no or very little cost!" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

To show the difference made by a 95% application of AstroSharp software on data for the Moon's disc

Jupiter 2022

 

Jupiter and moons Europa and Io on the 6th of October 2022. Compilation of two stacks one using a 2x Barlow lens and one a 3x Barlow lens. 127mm Meade 500 Series Apo refractor and QHY5-llc planetary camera. Stacked and processed using PIPP, Registax6, AutoStackert3!, Fitswork4 ,Topaz DenoiseAI and Affinity Photo. Credit Kurt Thrust.  

"Our first attempt at capturing Jupiter this year. We were not convinced that the sky over Lowestoft was quite stable enough for capturing a sharp image of the largest of the Solar System's planets, but we think it turned out alright in the end." Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Europa credit:JPL NASA

Io credit:JPL NASA

The Great Red Spot 2021

 

The Great Red Spot visible on Jupiter's Disc. 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, x3 Barlow and QHY5L-11 colour camera. 3 minute video clip stacked. Credit Pip Stakkert.

JunoCam on the JUNO Spacecraft: Image processing from RAW download by Pip Stakkert .   Credit for data NASA, JPL, SwRI. 
Mission Phase: PERIJOVE SwRI/35 2021-07-21 08:44 UT

" Our images of Jupiter captured on the 8th of September 2021 show the Great Red Spot, an enormous anticyclone, looking paler and smaller than in previous years. When we look at Jupiter through a telescope we see the turbulent weather systems and clouds reflecting sunlight which takes approximately 77 minutes for the round trip. The cloud systems are in constant movement driven by internal heat and the energy imparted by the planet's high rate of spin. Amongst this metrological chaos the red spot has remained a constant feature. In the last few years the GRS has grown smaller and paler. At the same time, large white ovals or spots have appeared in and around the South Equatorial Belt. Interaction with the white ovals appears to have resulted in the GRS becoming paler and smaller." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Gas Giants over Southwold and night scented honeysuckle.

 

The Gas Giant Planets - Jupiter and Saturn over Southwold, Suffolk. Canon 600d DSLR and Sigma lens at f=10mm and F=4.5. Stack of 3x20sec lights at ISO 3200. Credit: George Hammer Astro-Geologist at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Perseid Shower Compilation - Credit Kurt Thrust

" Nice to see the two gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn putting on such a good show low to the horizon in the south. We hope to be imaging both of these wonderful planets in the near future using the Jodrell Plank Observatory's 127mm Apo refracting telescope. Of course this is all subject to our adjoining neighbour, Mr. Schrödinger, allowing us to trim back his Lonicera periclymenum Serotina . We keep him on side by looking after his cat over the holidays!". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Summer Milky Way and Gas Giants with Moons

The Milky Way over the Jodrell Plank Observatory -the 600d Canon DSLR with EOS 18-55mm lens at f=18mm 'piggyback' on the Meade 127mm Refractor. A stack of 30x60 sec lights at ISO1600. Credit: Kurt Thrust

Jupiter showing the Great Red Spot and just visible the newly formed white spot below it. Two of the four Galilean Moons, Io and Ganymede, are also clearly visible. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and QHY5-11 colour planetary video camera. Three minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert

Saturn and three Moons, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and both the QHY5-11 colour and mono planetary cameras. Six minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" In contradiction of the usually accurate weather forecasts, the night of the 19th of August 2020 was clear and transparent. The absence of the Moon was also advantageous for astro-imaging.

Pip Stakkert and I made an early start using the planetary video cameras and the 127mm Meade Apo-refractor to image the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which remain low on the Jodrell Plank Observatory's southern horizon. Our thanks go to Anita Roberts, friend and sponsor of the Jodrell Plank Observatory, for cutting back the planting on the adjoining hedge.

The planet Mars remains too low during sensible working hours for us to use the Meade telescope to image it. We shall however try to capture the 'red planet' in September.

We completed our early morning imaging session by 'piggy backing' the Canon 600D dslr camera on the Meade telescope and captured the Summer Milky Way in all its glory as it streamed down over the Observatory buildings. The dark dust clouds in the Milky Way never fail to impress the Jodrell Plank team!". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Summer at Jodrell Plank

Summer Milky Way and the Summer Triangle asterism over the Jodrell Plank Observatory - Credit Jody McSquint-Fleming - Canon 600DSLR with EOS  lens at f=18mm - ISO3200 stacked 10 second lights.

" Nice to see the Summer Triangle rising in the east over the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Jody was out and about carrying out some maintenance tasks when she noticed the Milky Way had climbed high enough to image. According to Jody she didn't even bother to go get a tripod but just propped the camera against a brick and set the DSLR to take bursts of 10 x 10 second images. What a woman! 

We better call in a contractor to trim that hedge! 

I noticed that the planets Jupiter and Saturn are now visible but only from the upper windows of the Jodrell Plank Observatory Visitor Centre. I managed to take a handheld image of the pair of planets this week when they skimmed the roof tops at midnight. Later in the week I went to nearby Corton Cliffs and captured some images of Jupiter and Saturn as they became visible close to the horizon and over the North Sea." - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Images taken from Corton Cliffs Lowestoft with a Canon 600D DSLR at f=18mm 10x10sec lights stacked. ISo1600 and 3200. Credit: Kurt Thrust

The Occultation of Europa

First image from the newly mounted 127mm Refractor, taken from the  Jodrell Plank Observatory

"Last night the weather conditions were far from ideal for astrophotography, with high winds and clouds over Lowestoft, but as Jupiter was shining brightly and the Galilean moon Europa was about to be eclipsed and occulted by the planet, I turned the telescope towards the Jupiter and took the above image using the QHY5-11 colour planetary camera. The recently constructed permanent pier performed vey well in the high winds damping any vibrations very affectively". 

"The Great Red Spot was visible through out the evening's observations, in recent times this anticyclonic storm system within the clouds of the equatorial belt has become redder and smaller in size. This storm has existed since observations capable of seeing it commenced but are we now witnessing the beginning of the end for the Great Red Spot ?"

"An eclipse occurs when the shadow of the planet falls upon the moon. An occultation occurs when the moon moves behind the planet. An eclipse of one of the Galilean moons will occur when the planet is between the sun and the moon, consequently a Galilean moon may disappear from our line of sight whilst some distance from Jupiter's limb, it just depends upon the orbital 3 dimensional geometry and the positions of Jupiter, the Galilean moon and Earth". An occultation occurs when  Jupiter is between the Galilean moon and the Earth on a  line of sight from a given location on Earth".  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.