Mars Opposition 2018 Report (and some new planetary filters)!

[orion25]

MARS OPPOSITION 2018 GALAXY CENTRAL REPORT:

The evening was clear, very good transparency, good seeing. Warm and a little humid early on but things cooled down nicely by midnight. The waxing full moon was commanding, but far enough from the Red Planet to avoid detracting from the view. The cricket symphony started well before Mars cleared the tall oaks to my southeast, and was joined after midnight by the distant, resident owls in the neighborhood. 
I set up my video astronomy rig around 9 p.m. EDT, comprised of the usual suspects: Orion SkyView Pro 180mm Mak (or the Big Mak), Orion StarShoot 5MP Solar System Camera, the analog Orion Deep Space Video Camera II on standby, my new Celestron T-thread/2x Barlow, my laptop, and my Sony Digital Camcorder (to convert analog video from the Deep Space Camera). 

I waited until close to opposition time (1 a.m. EDT for me) before I started capturing images, so in the meantime I had great fun with my new GSO filters: #82A (light blue), #8 (light yellow), #11 (yellow/green), and #23A (light red) [I've only recently gotten into using planetary filters, btw]. I first tried #8 on Venus before it set and noticed a nice softening of the glare and subtle detail; I imagine it would work even better in twilight, but by now the sky was substantially dark and Venus was blazing in the night. #8 worked wonders on Saturn! Cloud detail, the Cassini Division, Encke, the moons, all jumped out of the eyepiece! It also seemed to highlight bright craters and albedo spots on the moon. It didn't do much for Jupiter, however, but the #82A filter more than made up for that! The GRS, cloud bands and festoons were striking under the light blue filter! I thought to myself, "Why did I go so long without planetary filters?" The #11 was less striking on both Saturn and Jupiter and gave them a greenish tint I didn't too much care for. The #23A was much too dark for my tastes and really requires big aperture. 

Around 10 p.m. Mars was just clearing the trees, so I excitedly tried all my new filters on it after an initial filterless view. Without any filtration I could see some subtle dark detail and slight albedo around the polar regions, similar to the view three weeks ago before the disc went blank - yes, THE STORM IS SUBSIDING! It was very bright, almost yellowish, but no longer the completely smooth orb it was a couple of weeks ago! Of the new filters, the red seemed to be only one to have enhanced any detail significantly, but the light transmission too low for me, and things were too, too red, lol. The others seemed to simply give Mars curious tints without enhancing much of anything. My existing Orion and Celestron filters, on the other hand, enhanced the dark maria and polar regions nicely, and the two filters were virtually indistinguishable from each other. Then I decided to experiment with stacking my filters. I found a magical combination of the magenta Orion Mars Filter (or Celestron) with #11 (yellow/green) which not only enhanced dark maria and polar albedo but also gave Mars a more pleasing, natural ruddy color. I kept that combination for use on my smaller 127mm Mak (or the Lil' Mak) strictly for observing for the rest of the night/morning. 

It was almost time for opposition so I removed the EP and attached the FIRST camera (the 5MP) to the Big Mak. After processing in Registax, here is one of the better images:

 

I later disconnected the 5MP and attached the analog Orion Deep Space Video Camera II and after processing was able to get this image:

 

And here are my composites, including the 27 July images:

First, the 5MP composite:

 

And the analog Orion Deep Space Camera II composite:

 

In both composite images you can see the effect of the dust storm which seemed to have peaked around 13 July and gradually began to subside, allowing you to see some dark regions and polar albedo once again. I plan on continuing my observations and occasional imaging of Mars over the next few months as detail inevitably becomes more visible. Though it will be progressively shrinking after perigee on Tuesday, Mars will be revealing more of its gorgeous features in the coming months!

EXCELSIOR!
Reggie ?

[Paz]

Great report, I'm also a fan of colour filters on the planets and moon, but I've never tried stacking them before, I'm going to give that a try.

[orion25]

27 minutes ago, Paz said:

Great report, I'm also a fan of colour filters on the planets and moon, but I've never tried stacking them before, I'm going to give that a try.

Thanks, Paz. A friend of mine who is a real "filter nut" suggested I experiment and try different combinations of filters. I was pleasantly surprised combining the Orion Mars Filter (magenta) with the #11 (yellow/green) for Mars.

[MarsG76]

I like the collection, shows mars size increasing as we were approaching opposition.

[orion25]

1 hour ago, MarsG76 said:

I like the collection, shows mars size increasing as we were approaching opposition.

Thanks, Mars. I'm looking forward to seeing more detail in the coming weeks. I'll probably get a few more images as Mars winds down and make another composite.  

[Pete Presland]

some nice detail there, interesting to see the increase in size over that time period.

[Stub Mandrel]

Nice sets Reggies.

The Starshoot seem to give consistently better results, do you have a view on why this is?

[orion25]

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Nice sets Reggies.

The Starshoot seem to give consistently better results, do you have a view on why this is?

Thanks, Neil. The StarShoot is an all digital, 5MP camera specifically designed for planetary work while the other (DSVC) is a slightly older analog camera that is actually designed for deep space work. Until I got the StarShoot I only had a rudimentary electronic eyepiece for planetary imaging, and then I got the DSVC which I used for both deep space and planetary. It works pretty well on Jupiter and Saturn, but for more subtle detail, the StarShoot blows it away. And now, I've got a ZWO ASI224MC to learn, lol!

[orion25]

12 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

some nice detail there, interesting to see the increase in size over that time period.

Thanks, Pete. I'm really looking forward to seeing more detail over the next few months, as a trade-off for shrinking size, lol!