Maps of Mars

[mikeDnight]

In 2003, after a spectacular season observing Mars at its best, I managed to sketch the planet so completely that I was able to produce a home grown map of the planet. The scope i was using back then was a FS128, which id mounted on a tall pier in my garden, and the observations were made looking directly through the telescope without the use of a diagonal. The resultant cylindrical grid map therefore shows south at the top. Back in 2003 the southern hemisphere was well placed for observation and with the planet being around 25" arc, the detail was spectacular.

This year, 2016, Mars was poorly placed for observation, but the northern hemisphere was well placed for observation. Being so low in the sky the planet was a challenging object to observe. This time round I used a FC100DC to study Mars, and also this time I used a prism diagonal and a binoviewer, which i believe aided my observations due to the more comfortable viewing position and the use of both eyes. Despite the unfavourable low angle I still managed to pluck out considerable detail, though it wasnt easy. I wanted to add to the 2003 attempt by getting a better view of the north. To my delight i not only got a better northern view than in 2003 but also was able to detect some intricate southern detail that I'd either overlooked or didn't see at all in the 2003 apparition. 

Attached are pics of the 2003 map and the FS128, and also a rough draft of the 2016 map I'm still working on (its a work in progress!) and the FC100DC. I hope to eventually combine the detail on the two maps to produce my own Martian globe, which when complete will be shown here. The 2016 map may be a bit dull as the photo was taken in artificial light. The final map yet to come and the globe will be imaged in natural light.

Mike ?

 

[John]

Brilliant work Mike

It seems astonishing what you have picked out with the FC100 but having owned one for only a short time I have just started to realise what is possible - your sketches and these maps provide motivation for the next opposition

 

 

[mikeDnight]

8 hours ago, John said:

Brilliant work Mike

It seems astonishing what you have picked out with the FC100 but having owned one for only a short time I have just started to realise what is possible - your sketches and these maps provide motivation for the next opposition

 

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence John. I believe that next time round Mars is supposed to be even better, but still low from the UK.

Im not sure yet if I'm going to label the features or not. It might be best if the end map remains unlabeled, so that its image can be cropped, flipped or rotated by anyone interested enough to want to use it as a reference while using a small scope.

Mike 

[Moonshane]

Awesome observing (and artistic) skills Mike.

[niallk]

Truly amazing and inspiring work - I'm in awe of the work that went into producing those wonderful maps

[laudropb]

Very nice maps. You have put in a lot of hard work and the final product really justifies your effort. Well done.

[N3ptune]

Thanks for sharing that impressive and beautiful Mars project, that's a huge work of art and technical drawing!!! Really interesting to look at.

--> I think the manuscript labels fit nicely on the first map of 2003, maybe you can put the labels on a Photoshop layer only for the next one. (But manuscript is always nice)

(: I don't know what to say.

 

[mikeDnight]

Thanks all for your kind and encouraging comments. ☺

Mike

[mikeDnight]

Just to make things a bit more interesting from a personal project point of view, heres a copy of the original grid sketch with named features.

Mike ?

[jabeoo1]

Brilliant. 

[Dave In Vermont]

Very well drawn indeed!

Giovanni Schiaparelli has nothing over your entry! I vividly remember 2003, too. That was a once-in-a-lifetime year - or century - for viewing Mars. Though a worldwide dust-storm cut the celebration short, it was more than enough to knock us astro-heads clear out of our shoes.

Now here's a rather rare momento:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for jogging my memory!

Dave