This is my best attempt so far at imaging Jupiter. This image was constructed by aligning and stacking the 60 best frames from a 30 second video acquired at five frames per second with a Philips SPC 900 NC webcam, attached to the prime focus of an eight inch, f/4.9 reflector. I also used a 2X barlow lens between the webcam and the telescope, making the effective focal length 2000 mm.

Before acquiring the video I experimented with the utility written by Etienne Bonduelle that modifies the firmware in Philips webcams to enhance the quality of astronomical images. I intended to use the webcam in RAW mode for best image quality, but I was unable to find an appropriate debayering algorithm for the SPC 900 NC. So instead, I set the webcam to "Optimized Color" mode, and I found it made a significant improvement in the quality of individual frames, compared to the factory-supplied firmware. I acquired the video sequences and aligned and stacked the best 60 frames using Iris software, and touched up the resulting image with Photoshop CS5.

The Great Red Spot is clearly visible in the South Equatorial Belt, and two storms can be seen in the North Equatorial Belt as dark red spots. Three of the four Galilean moons are visible as well. That is Ganymede on the far left and Europa closer to the planet on the left. Io is seen to the right of the planet. Callisto was outside the field of view, above and to the right of the planet.