Jupiter: Europa and Io Double Shadow Transit
     The photos below were taken using my 4" Takahashi refractor, a 2.5x TeleVue barlow, an IR blocking filter, and a Philips ToUcam Pro in 640x480 pixel mode. See my Saturn web page for details regarding my imaging methodology. The images below were obtained during a dual shadow transit of Europa and Io. Europa transited across the North Equatorial Belt (NEB), and thus its bright disk was visible for the duration of the video. Io initially began its transit across the NEB, but it subsequently was lost in the brightness of the equatorial zone. Many white ovals and festoons are resolved. Forty-six 4 minute videos were obtained successively, beginning at ~7:11UT and ending at ~10:18UT. Each video was processed in RegiStax to yield one frame that was then used to assemble the movie. On all images the indicated time is the approximate midpoint over the 4 minute interval during which the video was obtained.
Click on the pictures to see full size versions.
The Movie: Europa and IO
Shadow Transits (359kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from each of
46 separate videos
Elapsed time: ~3 hours
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Montage: Europa and Io
Shadow Transits (73kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain 
  125 frames stacked from each video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

  Stages of the transits.

Pre-transit (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa Ingress (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Europa Shadow
Ingress (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa, its Shadow,
and the Great Red Spot
Pre-meridian (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Europa, its Shadow,
and the Great Red Spot
Near the Meridian (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

 Io Ingress (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Io Shadow Ingress (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa, Io, and Their
Shadows Visible (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Io Disappears Into the
Glare of the Tropical
Zone (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa Approaches
the Limb (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Europa: Third
Contact (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa Straddles
the Limb (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1
Europa: Last
Contact (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

Europa: Floating
Free (13kb)
12 March 2004
4" Takahashi, 2.5x Barlow, IR block
1/25 second, 0% gain
125 frames stacked from 1 video
Gamma=0.8, Unsharp mask of radius 1

All photos are copyright K. R. Sperber
Return to Ken's Astrophotography Homepage