If you are a owner of a camera which has more than 10x zoom (better yet if you have a DSLR and a zoom lens longer than 100mm), you have a good chance of catching Jupiter with its moon on photo today.
Jupiter is closest to Earth today. This means it passes roughly around 628 million km from Earth compared to the 928 million km when it's farthest from the Earth. Naturally the closer approach allows you to resolve the details of the planet much better.
If you are a Sri Lankan, Jupiter rises from the east pretty much as soon as the sun sets and passes you over head around 20 minutes past mid night. Look towards the east (almost direct east, not north east, or south east) and try to find the brightest object you can see. That is Jupiter. Since a lot of people can recognise the constellation Orion, that also is a good starting point. Draw a line from the top star of the Orion's Belt through his shoulder and that line passes close to Jupiter. Jupiter it self is very bright, so you can't miss it. Even if it is a bit cloudy and you can see only a few stars, Jupiter would be one of the few objects you can see.
Photographing Jupiter:
If you have a DSLR (over 100mm) or a normal camera, you would be able to take a decent photo of Jupiter with its moons. Here's what you need to do:
DSLRs:
Set to Manual focus, zoom in as much as you can and get Jupiter in the proper focus range. The F number does not matter that much so set it to the lowest (largest aperture). Set the ISO to 3200. Set the photo mode to Manual. Shutter speed 0.5 sec.
Always shoot with the timer on. If you have a live view mode, you should be able to see the moons of Jupiter now it self.
Other digital cameras:
The actual settings are pretty much the same as the DSLRs. Just zoom in as much as possible and if you have a manual focus mode, switch to it. When fully focused, Jupiter still appears as a small dot. If your live view mode allows you to enlarge the photo digitally for preview, you would be able to see it as a small focused disc. If you have a manual mode for shooting, switch to it and set shutter speed 0.5 sec, ISO 3200 (or highest you got). If you don't have a Again shoot with the timer on.
If you don't get a good result at first, change the settings and see. Note that you would have to zoom in all the way to see the moons of Jupiter in any case.
Photographing details of Jupiter:
This section is pretty much for DSLR cameras or cameras that allow fully manual shooting. It is possible that with a long lens/good zoom range you would capture the details of Jupiter as well. For this, you are going to need a tripod.
Initial set up is pretty similar to the one before, set everything to manual. But set ISO to 800 or 1600, shutter speed to 1/50-1/100. You would have to experiment with a few shots varying the shutter speed, just remember that Jupiter is a remarkably bright object, it might need less shutter speed than you think. And when you are publishing the photos, cropping is your friend, it is very likely that you'd catch something that is less than 100 px on a side.
What if I miss this opportunity?
Don't worry, it is still going to be close enough tomorrow :) If it is cloudy, it is possible that you will not get a good view of the moons of Jupiter, but try in a while. What I've seen so far is that cloud cover in this month is pretty unstable.
So go out today, look at the skies and try and attempt to capture the biggest planet of the Solar System. If you manage to get some photos, upload them and post a link in the comments section. Would be happy to link them through the post.
Jupiter is closest to Earth today. This means it passes roughly around 628 million km from Earth compared to the 928 million km when it's farthest from the Earth. Naturally the closer approach allows you to resolve the details of the planet much better.
If you are a Sri Lankan, Jupiter rises from the east pretty much as soon as the sun sets and passes you over head around 20 minutes past mid night. Look towards the east (almost direct east, not north east, or south east) and try to find the brightest object you can see. That is Jupiter. Since a lot of people can recognise the constellation Orion, that also is a good starting point. Draw a line from the top star of the Orion's Belt through his shoulder and that line passes close to Jupiter. Jupiter it self is very bright, so you can't miss it. Even if it is a bit cloudy and you can see only a few stars, Jupiter would be one of the few objects you can see.
Photographing Jupiter:
If you have a DSLR (over 100mm) or a normal camera, you would be able to take a decent photo of Jupiter with its moons. Here's what you need to do:
DSLRs:
Set to Manual focus, zoom in as much as you can and get Jupiter in the proper focus range. The F number does not matter that much so set it to the lowest (largest aperture). Set the ISO to 3200. Set the photo mode to Manual. Shutter speed 0.5 sec.
Always shoot with the timer on. If you have a live view mode, you should be able to see the moons of Jupiter now it self.
Other digital cameras:
The actual settings are pretty much the same as the DSLRs. Just zoom in as much as possible and if you have a manual focus mode, switch to it. When fully focused, Jupiter still appears as a small dot. If your live view mode allows you to enlarge the photo digitally for preview, you would be able to see it as a small focused disc. If you have a manual mode for shooting, switch to it and set shutter speed 0.5 sec, ISO 3200 (or highest you got). If you don't have a Again shoot with the timer on.
If you don't get a good result at first, change the settings and see. Note that you would have to zoom in all the way to see the moons of Jupiter in any case.
Photographing details of Jupiter:
This section is pretty much for DSLR cameras or cameras that allow fully manual shooting. It is possible that with a long lens/good zoom range you would capture the details of Jupiter as well. For this, you are going to need a tripod.
Initial set up is pretty similar to the one before, set everything to manual. But set ISO to 800 or 1600, shutter speed to 1/50-1/100. You would have to experiment with a few shots varying the shutter speed, just remember that Jupiter is a remarkably bright object, it might need less shutter speed than you think. And when you are publishing the photos, cropping is your friend, it is very likely that you'd catch something that is less than 100 px on a side.
What if I miss this opportunity?
Don't worry, it is still going to be close enough tomorrow :) If it is cloudy, it is possible that you will not get a good view of the moons of Jupiter, but try in a while. What I've seen so far is that cloud cover in this month is pretty unstable.
So go out today, look at the skies and try and attempt to capture the biggest planet of the Solar System. If you manage to get some photos, upload them and post a link in the comments section. Would be happy to link them through the post.
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