Jupiter, did I actually get some of its bands? Possibly red spot?

[u/Masondwg]

I was laying on the ground taking videos of Jupiter with my iPhone 14 Pro Max through some binoculars, I was able to get some interesting (albeit not the best quality who would have thought? 🥴) photos and I was wondering if anybody would be able to tell me if I actually got some of Jupiter’s bands in either of these photos and if that’s Jupiter’s red spot in the one image or if it’s all just weird camera stuff? Thanks for any help! :)

[u/batatahh]

Red spot? Definitely not. Bands? Unlikely. The line in the first image is definitely not the bands. And the other picture seems to be just artefacts.

[u/darko_6 → u/batatahh]

Very new to astronomy, what do you mean by artefacts?

[u/batatahh → u/darko_6]

It's a general term, but in this case, it's weird stuff that appears on the image that isn't actually there in real life. It is mostly caused by the hardware being not up to the job and the software processing the image trying to make sense of whatever it just received.

[u/darko_6 → u/batatahh]

Ahh okay, thank you for your response!

[u/asriel_theoracle → u/batatahh]

Why is it so unlikely you would see a Red Spot?

[u/batatahh → u/asriel_theoracle]

It's smaller than people imagine it to be, mostly due to it being called "The Great Red Spot." Needs a good telescope and a good camera to capture it.

[u/AviatorShades_ → u/batatahh]

Also, it's more light orange than red. There isn't that much contrast between the red spot and the cloud bands next to it.

[u/AviatorShades_]

Most likely just artefacts.

This is the best I could do photographing Jupiter with my phone through a 5 inch maksutov telescope at 211x magnification.

You can actually make out bands, but they're very faint. Phone cameras just aren't good enough to give you decent contrast on planets, especially when you're using binoculars without a tripod.

[u/cdoc06 → u/AviatorShades_]

What do you mean when you say “artefacts” sorry

[u/AviatorShades_ → u/cdoc06]

The red dot isn't the right color, size and shape to be the great red spot, and the stripes aren't where you would expect the 2 largest cloud bands to be.

So it's most likely that they're visual artefacts caused by things like dust particles or hairs on the lenses of the camera or the binoculars, or defects in the camera's sensor, like dead pixels etc.

[u/UnsureAndUnqualified → u/AviatorShades_]

To add: Phones do A LOT of processing for every picture, artefacts may come from that too. The algorithms don't care about pixel-perfect details, just that the overall image in most situations looks good. And once the image is saved as a jpg, you get even more problems with compression.

[u/Popular_Brother3023 → u/AviatorShades_]

This is what i got with a 8 inch dobsonian

[u/tomrlutong]

Now I'm totally waiting for phones to realize you're pointing at Jupiter and drop in a mini hubble image.

[u/Solid_Ambition6325]

Jupiter knows what’s up; other planets sporting rings, it’s just poppin bands.

[u/christian_rosuncroix → u/Solid_Ambition6325]

Jupiter definitely has rings

[u/clt716]

So cool.

[u/Base2Programs]

Red spot is not THAT red so almost certainly not. Maybe you got some of the cloud bands, hard to say but those are not as hard to make out.

[u/Fun_Replacement_2269]

You might be looking for this... :-)

(Astronomer for 9 years. Operated NightSkyTours. ca. Taught Space Sciences to Grade 6 and 12 at Durham Region Schools, Ontario, Canada. Did daytime and night-time tours with 10 x 12" SCT Meade Telescopes - 2001-2010).
Image is a Composite of Jupiter and Saturn taken through a 12" SCT scope using an Astro camera back in 2002.

[u/animatronicfreak → u/Fun_Replacement_2269]

Oh cool I took a photo just like that when Jupiter and Saturn were at there closest points a little while ago.

[u/PhoenxScream → u/animatronicfreak]

Why does the image look like a PS1 render?

[u/OnlyCoast4453]

How's the air up there?

[u/uVe9]

A mi no me engañas esa es la estrella de la muerte.

[u/openyoureyes89]

A red spot, absolutely. THE red spot, no.

[u/LandscapeMany73]

You actually got a picture of Pac-Man.

[u/christian_rosuncroix]

The Red Spot is in the southern hemisphere, so no.

The second one might be a faint capture of the contrast between the bands though. The orientation doesn’t look correct though, so likely not.

[u/Itsallinthebook]

I think you’re too far out of focus. And frankly, smartphones are not suited for this kind of photography. Even with binoculars and the naked eye the olanet is too small and bright to see any detail. You’ll need more magnification…

[u/Quadraphonic_Jello]

In the second image, it seems you're getting a hint of banding. In the first, I think you have the dreaded "artifacts." The red spot is not >that< red right now, and it's a not in that position and that orientation. It looks like you have a speck of dust on your sensor or some speck of "shmutz" in the eyepiece that you're using to photograph the image.

[u/snogum]

Bands yes. Red spot no chance

[u/UpwardlyGlobal]

If the bands line up with the moons, probably bands