Observation by Chris Hooker: Io's sodium stream, 26th January 2024

Uploaded by

Chris Hooker

Observer

Chris Hooker

Observed

2024 Jan 26 - 19:16

Uploaded

2024 Jan 27 - 14:11

Objects

Jupiter

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Constellation

Aries

Field centre

RA: 02^h17^m
Dec: +12°39'
Position angle: -19°42'

Field size

0°26' × 0°16'

Equipment

StellaMira 110 mm ED refractor
Alluxa sodium-line filter, Thorlabs 570 nm bandpass filter
0.45x re-imaging focal reducer
ZWO ASI178MM camera

Exposure

Sodium images 90 seconds. Off-band images 15 seconds

Location

Didcot, Oxfordshire

Target name

Jupiter system

Title

Io's sodium stream, 26th January 2024

About this image

A clear evening with excellent transparency, as required for imaging Io's sodium cloud. Stacks of 19 90-second images taken through the sodium-line filter and 20 15-second exposures taken through a 570 nm filter were slightly sharpened and contrast-enhanced in Registax. The two were combined in the GIMP using layer subtraction to eliminate the glare round Jupiter caused by atmospheric scattering. Io and Europa were very close together on the left (east) of the planet, with Io further from Jupiter. The emission from the sodium stream can be seen extending away from Io and passing slightly to the south of Ganymede, before becoming too faint to see. Callisto is visible on the right-hand side of Jupiter.

This stream was not as bright as features detected in some of my previous images, and required significant enhancement to be clearly seen.

Files associated with this observation

Na 02 26 Jan 24 90s OB sub.png (759.8 kB)

Like this image

Andy Wilson, Callum Potter, Graham Winstanley, Joan Genebriera, Jeremy Shears, Steve Knight, Mike Foulkes, Nick Hewitt, Bill Leatherbarrow

Comments

Joan Genebriera, 2024 Jan 27 - 18:34 UTC

Outstanding! very refined technique, congratulations

Chris Hooker, 2024 Jan 27 - 21:25 UTC

Gracias, Joan! I appreciate your comment.

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