Jupiter and Ganymede on November 3, 2024

The weather continues to be challenging for this planetary season; however, I’m happy to share my latest image of Jupiter with fair amount of details. On November 3 I got a nice picture of Jupiter together with its largest moon named Ganymede. This image is special to me because for the first time I was able to reveal surface details of Ganymede.

Imaging and Processing

I spent nearly five hours imaging Jupiter. After patiently working through fluctuating seeing conditions, I finally managed a brief period of steadier atmosphere. During those precious minutes, I captured one of my best images of Jupiter alongside its largest moon, Ganymede. The final image presented here results from de-rotating and stacking 11 of the best frames from the session, providing a sharp view of Jupiter’s cloud bands and intricate details. For Ganymede, I performed a manual stacking of images in Photoshop, revealing surface features on this distant moon. Although the details are somewhat blurred, this is my first image capturing actual surface features of Ganymede, marking a new milestone in my planetary imaging efforts!

Here’s a comparison between my image (left) and a reference from Stellarium. Even though it’s a bit blurred, you can see some actual features on Jupiter’s largest moon—an exciting milestone for me in planetary imaging!

If you’re curious about how to do processing of planetary images, I have a detailed video on YouTube where I cover each step of the processing. You’re welcome to watch this tutorial below:

Gear I Used: