Mars at 14 deg alt - 25 June 2018

[geoflewis]

With the run of clear nights of fairly good seeing I've beginning to run on fumes....!! No complaints as I've been able to capture lots of runs on Jupiter and Saturn then on 25th I hung around for my first look at Mars this apparition.

At an altitude of only 14 degrees and a dust storm raging, I wasn't sure what I'd get. It's also my first attempt at Mars using the ASI120 mono, so getting the capture settings for each filter right took some time (and may still need to be tweaked), plus processing was also something of a learning curve. The R, G, B showed almost no detail, so what is there in the final image came through the IR742 filter which was added as a luminence. Hopefully the dust storm will clear as Mars approaches opposition over the next couple of months, so that we can capture more of Mars surface details.

Cheers, Geof

 

[Davey-T]

Well done Geof, did the same thing myself last night but gave up at 2.30am as Mars refused to come out from the trees

Dave

[geoflewis]

Thanks Dave,

It was good to get 3 planets in one night. I was out again last night capturing a couple more runs at Jupiter (there won't be many more of the 'King' possible from my location as it heads west), Saturn again, plus some Moon feature shots whilst I waited for Saturn to gain elevation. Even though I could see Mars rising as I finished with Saturn, I was feeling punch drunk from tiredness, so didn't feel up to climing the step ladder to get Mars sighted in the finder and called it quits around 2am. I did grab some time at the eyepiece on Saturn, which looked great with Cassini visible all the way round a very colorful globe, plus a bunch of moons dotted around, though I didn't try to identify which were which.

I have quite a backlog of data building; all the AVIs from last night, plus some Jups from the night before, but it would be churlish to complain about so many sleepless nights....??

Cheers, Geof

 

[Davey-T]

31 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

but it would be churlish to complain about so many sleepless nights..

Same here, been up late / early a few nights running, may have to offer to prune my neighbours apple tree to get at Mars 

Also tried for Uranus and Neptune out of the bedroom window while waiting for Mars, not sure if I caught them, got to plate solve the images.

Dave

[JeremyS]

Fantastic image Geof.

I've also been enjoying your excellent work on the BAA website.

[geoflewis]

17 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Fantastic image Geof.

I've also been enjoying your excellent work on the BAA website.

Thanks Jeremy,

I've been a BAA member for a few years, but only recently found out that I had a 'page' there to share my images, so I've just started posting them there ?

Regards, Geof

[Red Dwarfer]

Great capture - I noticed a faint dark patch on Mars for the first time a couple of nights ago - tried to see the polar cap too but the rim was just too bright all the way round - still pleased at seeing some faint surface detail though ?

[jock1958]

Nice image Geof,  all I could see at 4am this morning was a wobbly orange ??

[geoflewis]

55 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

Great capture - I noticed a faint dark patch on Mars for the first time a couple of nights ago - tried to see the polar cap too but the rim was just too bright all the way round - still pleased at seeing some faint surface detail though ?

Thanks. I took in some views at the eyepiece, but couldn't make out anything other than the gibbous phase, but I don't have any filters to enhance surface detail, so that may be part of the reason.

[geoflewis]

23 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Nice image Geof,  all I could see at 4am this morning was a wobbly orange ??

Thanks Jock,

We could all probably do with some vitamin C that time of the morning, though I must say that I prefer the whisky mac ? that I had to celebrate a good session before retiring to bed... Had another one last night too - don't tell the missus ?

Cheers, Geof

[jock1958]

Ha ha love it! I like the occasional dram as well and might try one later to improve my view of Mars ?

[Gina]

Really great image ??

[geoflewis]

4 hours ago, Gina said:

Really great image ??

Thanks Gina, I'm glad that you like it. I was out tonight hoping for another run at it after returning from my hols yesterday. I started by capturing Jupiter, then over to Saturn. Seeing was fair, but the clouds rolled whilst I was on Saturn and it doesn't look as if it will clear so I closed the obs and try again another night. Regards, Geof