Some recent astro shots - Mars, Pleiades and Jupiter

[BDennis]

I just sorted these out today, taken on some clear nights in January and February. All with the 40-150mm f2.8 on a tripod except the last one.

Mars and the Beehive Cluster

Mars and the Beehive Cluster M44 - 02.January.2025 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

Closer in on Mars
Mars 02.January.2025 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

Pleiades open cluster Messier 45 showing some nebulosity - HHHR + tripod
Pleiades Messier 45 02.January.2025 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

Jupiter and some moons, hand held shot with 150-400mm, big crop. Moons left to right : Callisto, Ganymede and Io.

Jupiter with Moons - 02.02.2025 by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

Bill

[Phill D]

You got the bands on Jupiter too Bill very nice. I'm glad you did as I was beginning to think the one I got was an artifact!

[BDennis]

You got the bands on Jupiter too Bill very nice. I'm glad you did as I was beginning to think the one I got was an artifact!

Thanks Phill. It took a few goes with Jupiter to get it right, I decided to spot meter on the moon and use AE lock. Then a bit of levels in PP.

Bill

[Phill D]

Yes that's exactly what I did Bill and yes it did take quite a few goes for me too. I nearly didn't look at them thinking they were all just small white discs until I really cropped one of them to a ridiculous level and saw the fuzzy bands. I did try the Lightroom AI denoise on it but it just got rid of everything and left a feint ring where the planet had been!

[Bikie John]

Interesting set, thanks Bill. Could you share some exposure details please?

John

[BDennis]

Interesting set, thanks Bill. Could you share some exposure details please?

John

Thanks John. The exposure details can be found on Flickr via the links below each shot (if that works) but I’ll put them here too - details in order

#1 Mars and Beehive cluster 1.6s f2.8 ISO 8000 at 40mm

#2 Mars 1.3s f2.8 ISO 8000

#3 Pleiades 1.3s f2.8 ISO 6400 at 150mm, this was an HHHR shot so effective exposure is x12. This was my favourite, I liked how it got some nebulosity.

#4 Jupiter 1/250s f5.6 ISO 800 at 500mm

Bill

[Bikie John]

Thanks Bill, it was the Pleiades shot that really caught my eye. I might even give it a go (if we ever get a clear night!).

John

[BDennis]

Pleiades is one of my favourite targets. Good luck with the clear nights John, they've been few and far between over this way!

Bill