Astrophotography

Solar System

I am very new to CCD imaging. Here are my first attempts of the planets of our solar system.

...
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
1/2 Mercury
3/4 Venus
       
..... ...........  
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
  

 

Pluto

Shot 1- Pluto UTC 8:51:14
Shot 2- Pluto 5Hrs later
Shot 3- Pluto 19 Hrs after shot 2
These pictures were taken on the 3rd & 4th of August 2007. Pluto is in Sagittarius. Pluto is one planet, or should I say after the meeting in Prague where Pluto was demoted from full-fledged planet to "dwarf planet", is an object that I have wanted to view for years. Pluto is mag. 13.95, and lies at a distance of 30.5 au.

 

....................Jupiter and the four main Jovian moons (L to R Callisto, Europa, Io,.Ganymede)

...............

.................Saturn, and the unique ring system.

3/4 moon, crater Tycho stands out right of center toward the top. The ray system is ejecta
material excavated from the impact site around 100 million years ago, fairly recent!!
The terminator just revealing craters on the south pole. The lower left three craters in a line down are (top to bottom) Arzachel (96km in diam.), Alphonsus (108km in diam.) & Ptolemaeus (164km in diam.).
The large mare center is Mare Serenitatis, note the ridge on the right side, Montes Caucasus.