Not a Mars-aholic

[Jupiterholic]

After being royally spoiled by Jupiter for the past few months my first ever imaging crack at Mars here is somewhat.. underwhelming. Though I expected that.

At first I thought I just had a really bad onion ring thing going on, but comparing this mornings shot to the USNO version from the same time, what I first mistook for onion rings do appear to be surface features.

So I'm now exhausted, underwhelmed and have to go the gym in a minute.

I think I'll wait until opposition to do any more shots of this little baked bean of a planet.

[Kokatha man]

Good attempt J/h:headbang:.....you've certainly captured the North Polar Cap:icon_salut: but it looks like a case of over-exposure/burnout for the central region of the planet - what sort of gain/histogram were you using..?

[callisto]

Nice capture

And BTW, you dont have to go to the gym, I never......sorry I meant I have never ever been to a gym

[Parus major]

Maybe he meant the Gem Saloon...

I think it's brilliant, dead exciting!

[Clayton]

As KM says "Burnt out a bit" probably through over exposure. Mars is small but deceptively bright. Have another go

[Jupiterholic]

Yeah I was thinking about over exposure in the centre aswell but then... looking at the USNO picture I'm not sure there was really that much detail in the centre of the planet large enough to be picked up by an 8 inch scope at that time (5:49am). It was quite a large blank area in the centre when I shot it.

Actually can't remember my gain and gamma off hand. Exposure was 1/30 for 30 fps but I pushed the gain and gamma progressively lower over the course of half an hour until the thing was almost a dark gray blob. My last captures don't look overexposed from viewing the avi's. hmmm... scratches head...

I clearly do need practice on Mars and will only be able to get my settings right when I hit it with some significantly large dark surface features in the centre.

Watch this space... cause there'll be a lot better Mars pictures than mine in it from other people

[King]

I don't see why your 8" shouldn't net you any detail as I'm consistently managing with a 5" now. I imagine it has more to do with a certain finesse required for capture settings. Worst case scenario it's getting easier week by week...

[Jupiterholic]

I don't see why your 8" shouldn't net you any detail as I'm consistently managing with a 5" now. I imagine it has more to do with a certain finesse required for capture settings.

Yeah, finesse and luck in the appearance of the planet when you turn your scope on it. I think in this case it really is a case of the features forming a circle around a featureless centre, giving it a deceptive 'over exposed' look.

Lets face it, at the miniscule size Mars is right now even an 8 inch will only pick up the very largest of the dark markings. In my unlucky case they were all on the limb here. Your shot from last night in your thread was awesome. I think you got it a couple of hours before me. I hope to get something like that next time.

[Clayton]

Hmmm! Maybe stretched too far in processing, certainly not the size of the instrument.

Maybe the seeing was off, or focus etc.??

[Jupiterholic]

Hmmm! Maybe stretched too far in processing, certainly not the size of the instrument.

Maybe the seeing was off, or focus etc.??

Maybe. Seeing was pretty rubbish. As usual.

Still think the detail that was visible, is visible in this... albeit terrible, shot. I know a couple of people with c-14's and even they wouldn't be able to pick up detail as small as the tiny features you can see in the central part of the USNO version today. I'll be back at opposition (when its bigger than a baked bean) to try Mars again and maybe he'll place those nice dark blobs in the centre this time