Video of Jupiter Rotation

There are many people who are interested in space. One of these people was reddit user /liger444, an amateur astronomer living in the USA. The amateur astronomer recorded the rotation of Jupiter on camera with the video he shared. The resulting images are quite eye-catching.

Jupiter is a planet that completes its rotation around its axis very quickly. It completes a full rotation in 9 hours 50 minutes and 30 seconds. Therefore, it is possible to see the rotation of the planet even in short-term observations. This video is the result of a 4 hour shoot.

Why is Jupiter spinning strangely?

Jupiter’s rotation is not quite as expected in these images. The reason for this situation is the shooting system used. A system that measures the angular distance of a celestial body relative to the observer from a point on the horizon in shots taken with the Altitude-Azimuth system. Azimuth is for horizontal, altitude is for vertical measurement. In this rotation, the rotation of the Earth around its axis, as well as Jupiter, was also recorded.

The user also explained the equipment he used

The astronomer living in Texas, USA, announced that he used a 6-inch telescope and camera. The equipment used is as follows:

• Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 6SE
• Accessories: Two 2x Barlow Lenses
• Camera: ZWO Asi 120mc
• Footrest: 6SE Mount

Images from recordings merged

The amateur astronomer used a method called “Lucky Imaging” in this project. In this method, videos are taken instead of taking photos one by one. Afterwards, frames with low atmospheric distortions are selected from the frames in this video, and then these images are combined.