Mars With a 1-Meter Scope

[cshahar]

Hi Everyone:

I had two tries at Mars and Uranus using the 1-Meter Chilescope on November 27th and 28th. Sorry to post so late. I am new to planetary imaging, having focused on solar imaging for several years before. Here are the results for Mars, my first ever crack at the planet. At 9.5" in diameter and seeing about 3.5/5 this was the best I could do. I started taking these images about 5 minutes after sunset.

Thanks!

-Charles

 

 

 

 

[Davey-T]

Very nice Charles, my efforts were a failure due to low altitude and the prevailing dust storm, now it's heading rapidly westwards behind the rooftops.

Dave

[cshahar]

Thankfully, the scope I am using is far enough south to afford me opportunities till the end of the year, although seeing has been problematic there. Its great to hear from you again Dave. We haven't spoken in a while. Had to sell my solar stuff because I bought a house last year, I decided that instead of spending money on expensive equipment, like an Ha solar filter, I was going to rent a scope instead!

-Charles

[Pete Presland]

Nice looking captures Charles. What's the going rate for the Chile scope, is there much of waiting list? 

[cshahar]

Hi Pete. Nice to speak to you again. It is $200 an hour, with small scale discounts as your spending accumulates. Certainly not a cheap proposition. There is no waiting list. It is first come first served...

-Charles

 

[sloz1664]

Hi Charles,

Fabulous images btw. It certainly proves beyond doubt that aperture counts, for planetary. If you don't mind me asking. What sort of scope time did you rack up for those images.

Steve

[cshahar]

Hi Steve. The session was for an hour. But with focusing and other preparations it was probably more like 50 minutes.

[maw lod qan]

Around here people spend almost that to spend a day in the craziness of Disney with Micky and Minnie!

That fee would be well spent for an hours solitude looking at something so magestic.

But wait, at Disney, you could actually hug Pluto!!

[cshahar]

Waiting for good seeing conditions at the Chile site is a bit like waiting in line at Disney: you are impatient because you know something great will happen at the end of it, but its still really frustrating!

[astroman001]

Nice work.

 

[cshahar]

Thanks. I appreciate it!