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BARBADOS MISSION REPORT 2006.

APRIL 7th - APRIL 25th, 2006.

Above. Ready for another long night of imaging. Far left Kingsley with C11, centre, Tyler with C14 and at far right myself with C14. Note the makeshift windbreak in the background.

During April 2006 I again travelled to the tropical island of Barbados in the south east Caribbean for 3 weeks of high resolution imaging. Accompanying me on this trip were fellow Planetary photographers David Tyler and Bruce Kingsley. Weather conditions were again good throughout the period, though there was more problems with scattered cumulus than during the 2005 mission. Our close proximity to the coast (only about 0.3-0.5km away) caused problems with the telescopes being buffeted by the easterly winds. Fortunately, we were able to erect a wind break, and the outdoor buildings also provided shelter (though on some really windy nights there were still some problems.)

Seeing conditions were generally superb. The main culprit for any turbulence was always preceding or following large pockets of clouds which produced localised severe cloud turbulence. During large areas of clear sky, Pickering 8-9 seeing was common.

Personally, although the weather was a bit more troublesome on the trip due to scattered clouds on many nights, the island again delivered amazing views and images of the Planets. I enjoyed my finest ever view of Jupiter on April 20th, and one of also of Saturn on April 12th. Stunning views of the Moon were also had on an almost nightly basis. I also imaged Mars every possible evening, it showing lots of detail despite being only 5" arc secs diameter.

Below you'll find links to the large amount of work I produced during this trip. Enjoy!.

LUNAR IMAGES FROM THE TRIP

JUPITER IMAGES

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Jupiter full rotation on April 19-20th, 2006.

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Jupiter Unravelled - April 19-20th, 2006.

Jupiter from above and below - April 19-20th, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 24th, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 23rd, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 22nd, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 21st, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 20th, 2006. This night yielded my best ever views of Jupiter in the eyepiece of a telescope.

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Jupiter on April 19th, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 18th, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 16th, 2006.

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Jupiter on April 15th, 2006.

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Jupiter and Io on April 14th, 2006. The two single Jupiter images were via the combination of David's and my own C14s imaging at the same time, which I then later combined and processed into a final result.