Jupiter in motion

My first post (just turned 80, so I'd better get going). To my surprise, I found last year that I could see the moons of Jupiter without a telescope. The image is not great, but I did not even realize it was possible.

Jupiter is curently rising in the eastern sky after dark -- the third brightest object after the sun and moon). A nice Internet site lets you identify the moons and their locations at any time. I can see the moons with ~1 sec. exposure time, but to me the image is more striking with a longer exposure, showing the apparent motion of both the planet and the moons.

I did this in the Adirondack mountains, where the ambient light is low, but I have done almost as well at home, from the 6th floor balcony of our condo.

Image August 29, 2010, 1:19am.

Canon 40D, 70-300mm lens at 300mm, ISO 400, f/9, 30 sec. exposure, in-camera noise reduction, tripod, live view with 10X focusing (essential to focus on the moons), drastic cropping because the planet is still small, some brightening and contrast adjustment in Picasa.

Comments welcome, thanks. I'm here to enjoy and learn.

Dave, Leesburg, VA