About this Object:
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.94, making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (Mars can briefly match Jupiter's brightness at certain points in its orbit.)

Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter and the largest satellite in the Solar System. It is the seventh moon and third Galilean satellite outward from Jupiter. Completing an orbit in roughly seven days, Ganymede participates in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with the moons Europa and Io, respectively. It has a diameter of 5,268 km (3270 miles), 8% larger than that of the planet Mercury, but has only 45% of the latter's mass. Its diameter is 2% larger than that of Titan, the second largest moon. It also has the highest mass of all planetary satellites, with 2.02 times the mass of the Earth's moon.

Jupiter is currently closer to Earth than it will be at any time in the next 12 years.

About this Photo:
Planetary shots are done by recording about 2 minutes of video with a webcam through the telescope. Special software then grades, frames, aligns and stacks the individual Frames. Please note the "Great Red Spot" In the lower Right quadrant of the planet as well as the moon Ganymede.

Location: From my driveway in Georgetown, Texas
Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ F20
Barlow: Zhumell 2x
Mount: HEQ-5
Camera: Celestron NexImage Webcam
Exposure: 1/15 sec; 1016 of 1800 frames selected
Processing: Registax 5.1
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS3;
Date(s): September 24, 2010
Temperature(s): 80º F