A passionate amateur astrophotographer from Port Glasgow has captured breathtaking shots of Jupiter and its moons from the comfort of his back garden.
Physics teacher Stephen McAllister went viral last year after snapping beautiful photos of space using his phone and an £80 telescope from Aldi. Now, using his trusty setup, the talented photographer has captured a shot of Jupiter and the solar system’s fourth-largest moon, lo.
Despite horrendous weather across the UK last week, on Friday, January 10, Stephen snapped the stellar shot – noting that “good things come to those who wait.”
“I don’t think that was specifically written for astrophotographers, but with the weather being as fickle as it was in 2024 it feels like it could have been!” he added.
“2025 seems to be shaping up better though already.
The clear shot of Jupiter and its fourth-largest moon lo.
“I lucked out last week with four clear frosty nights on the bounce and one of those was set aside for the ‘king of the solar system’, the big gas giant.
“Quite often I am loading up the car with gear to head out the back of beyond, but I was able to shoot it from my own garden for a change which my spine was grateful for.”
To capture the shot, he took several one minute video clips then stacked the best 50% of 1800 frames using Autostakkert imaging software, with post processing done using a free image processing software called Registax.
“My ‘planet killer’ scope, a Maksutov Cassegrain which I have nicknamed ‘MC Hammer is a really heavy beast, but when he is on his game nobody can touch him,” he said.
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Luckily for those that missed out on the sight of the gas giant, Stephen says Jupiter will still be fairly visible throughout the rest of the month.
“Jupiter reached opposition on the 7th of December and was at its brightest that night,” Stephen added.
“Jupiter will steadily recede and fade over the next few months, but it will still be fairly well placed for viewing in January and February.”
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