Measuring the Size of Jupiters Great

Red Spot from your Backyard

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey (mehdi@exploresciences.com), January 2016

Why Jupiter ?

fed as a kid with Voyager, Galileo, HST images

Voyager-Credit NASA/JPL Caltech,

1979

Galileo - Credit NASA/JPL Caltech,

1997
HST - Credit NASA/ESA, 2008

structures, satellites Jupiter is a very vast moving world on its own !

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Background

Observe, measure and think about it !

Data acquisition is one thing, but what can we do with it ?

measurement

Amateur astronomy and amateur science

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Can I really add something with my C8 ???

The thing is I only have a C8 and a DSLR

C8
CANON EOS 6D
Skywatcher AZ-EQ6
Powermate 2.5x
Backyard EOS
The SkyX Pro
EQ-MOD
Registax6
PixInsight

My great dark site does not add anything

Luck helps for events (triple transit)
Do I need more aperture ?

something that includes 16 and SCT in the product name ?

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Back to basics: optical system

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

What do I know and what do I need to calculate?

Backyard EOS in planetary mode with my DSLR: 1:1 mapping (one CCD cell
= one pixel)
D: distance earth planet
Sccd: size on the CCD sensor. Pixel pitch: 6.5 micrometers in my case
Sp: planet size
f: focal length of the ENTIRE optical train

Are the values from the vendors to be trusted ?

How to deal with my Powermate ?

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

First attempt: polar and equatorial diameters

My old greek friends tell me that:

So

or

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

First surprise using vendor values for f

Cant find the right value for the polar diameter (142984 kms) !
What does that mean ?

I am off few pixels

vendor values for f are slightly wrong and I am more around 2x than 2.5x for my powermate

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

televue powermates specifications

Second surprise: where does the GRS stop ???

987 kms per pixel

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

PixInsight and range selection

generates a mask by defining a range of pixel values

close the loop !

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

I do believe in statistics !

calculation done on the 13 pictures

and averaged
final values: 16587 kms (equatorial)
and 10020 kms (polar)
Value measured by NASA (equatorial)
using HST data in 2014: 16500kms

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

What did I learn ?

Always good to have old friends from Greece

How to insert math equations in my Google presentations
Real life introduction to mathematics, astronomy, and scientific process to
kids : success !
A small C8 can produce scientifically viable data when coupled with
software
When you do send emails to NASA scientists, they do respond
I can measure planetary objects from my backyard !

More details:

Diameter measurement
GRS measurement

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Next steps

Focal length (or equivalent) is available for all the scientific instruments

Lets introduce time in the equation

calculations using HST /other cameras

gives access to speed

Projects:

speed of different bands

size of SL9 impacts (HST, Galileo)
speed of the shockwave for SL9 impacts ? (HST)
size of Saturns hexagon (CASSINI)

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com