Mars with Fullerscope

[CraigT82]

This is the first Mars image I've captured since 2016, with the last apparition being a major dust-fest I didn't even bother with it.

In this image I believe there is some faint bluish clouds near the north pole and possibly just to the right of the south polar cap (or those could be just artifacts!) I also think Olympus Mons could be the dark spot at upper centre. Not sure on those IDs though

8.75" Fullerscope with Altair 224C, APM 2.7x barlow and ZWO ADC. Baader L filter.

I captured 15 x 2 minute runs and discarded 4 of them. Stacked best 30% of the rest and derotated the lot. PS for final tweaks.

I also captured some IR685nm data but didn't want to add it to this for fear of throwing off the colour balance and swamping out the delicate clouds

(P.S Vlaiv I've posted the tif alongside - please feel free to play with it!)

Mars 2020-07-30-0314.tif

[vlaiv]

I'm not sure if I could do any better than you with this one.

I just resampled it to 0.24"/px (I just love properly sampled images it seems ) and did a bit of color balance tweak - after all, everyone loves red mars, right?

Just a pinch of wavelets here and there

Like I said - not sure if this made an improvement.

[BRADLEY 1953]

Another  lovely image Craig,  keep them coming.

[CraigT82]

12 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I'm not sure if I could do any better than you with this one.

I just resampled it to 0.24"/px (I just love properly sampled images it seems ) and did a bit of color balance tweak - after all, everyone loves red mars, right?

Just a pinch of wavelets here and there

Like I said - not sure if this made an improvement.

Thanks Vlaiv, I'm not sure about the rescaling (I think Mars at this diameter needs a bit of amplification) but I definitely agree on the redder hue

[vlaiv]

I took some effort to find what Mars should look at that time, but I think I've go it (a bit different tilt angle in Stellarium for some reason):

[Stu]

Another excellent shot @CraigT82 which verifies what I saw last night. Before seeing this I was confused/disappointed because the simulated views of Mars I’ve checked don’t show that the whole of the Southern Hemisphere was dark with some  variation showing up. What I saw matches your image!

I think I saw slight brightening to the North which sort of shows up too.

Again, do you mind me sharing this image with my group, with credit maintained of course?

Thanks!

[CraigT82]

Here's the visualisation from Ade Ashford's Mars Mapper web app... rotated and with a fake terminator added (it's fully illuminated in the web app)

I think this one is a pretty good match to my image.

http://www.nightskies.net/mars/mars.html#

[CraigT82]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Another excellent shot @CraigT82 which verifies what I saw last night. Before seeing this I was confused/disappointed because the simulated views of Mars I’ve checked don’t show that the whole of the Southern Hemisphere was dark with some  variation showing up. What I saw matches your image!

I think I saw slight brightening to the North which sort of shows up too.

Again, do you mind me sharing this image with my group, with credit maintained of course?

Thanks!

Thanks Stu,  Absolutely feel free to share as you like!

[Mick H]

 

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

This is the first Mars image I've captured since 2016

Beautiful shot Craig, well done.

[Stu]

14 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Here's the visualisation from Ade Ashford's Mars Mapper web app... rotated and with a fake terminator added (it's fully illuminated in the web app)

I think this one is a pretty good match to my image.

http://www.nightskies.net/mars/mars.html#

Thanks Craig! I’ll look into that one!

[vlaiv]

7 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

I think this one is a pretty good match to my image.

Ok, I see the confusion. Btw, how did you manage to image the Mars in the future?

[CraigT82]

Whoops sorry! Brain fog from getting up at 3am 🤷‍♂️

[vlaiv]

37 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Here's the visualisation from Ade Ashford's Mars Mapper web app... rotated and with a fake terminator added (it's fully illuminated in the web app)

I think this one is a pretty good match to my image.

http://www.nightskies.net/mars/mars.html#

I'm still having trouble connecting the dots.

Here is map of Martian surface:

I've marked what I believe to be corresponding regions on your image. If I'm right, then Olympus Mons is not on your image, but just of the left side.

[CraigT82]

40 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I've marked what I believe to be corresponding regions on your image. If I'm right, then Olympus Mons is not on your image, but just of the left side

I don't think you've marked the right region on that map.   Here is the ephemerides graphic from Winjupos, and I've also ammended your map to highlight the region I think I've captured with Olympus mons upper centre. 

I'm not sure why I'm getting a dark spot where Olympus Mons should be, perhaps it's casting a shadow? It' seems to be right in the middle of the Martian day though so not to sure about that?

 

 

 

[markse68]

lovely image Craig. Was this last night? Maybe the dark patch is Ascraeus Mons- according to SS Olympus Mons was further to left at 3

[vlaiv]

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

I don't think you've marked the right region on that map. 

I agree, after fiddling around with meridian and that map, I got the same results.

Problem is that image does not show it. Maybe too large alignment points and stacking artifacts?

[CraigT82]

Thanks Mark, is that 3am UTC or BST?

1 minute ago, markse68 said:

lovely image Craig. Was this last night? Maybe the dark patch is Ascraeus Mons- according to SS Olympus Mons was further to left at 3

 

 

[CraigT82]

6 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I agree, after fiddling around with meridian and that map, I got the same results.

Problem is that image does not show it. Maybe too large alignment points and stacking artifacts?

That's a possibility, but I think it's real.  See screen shot from Pete Lawrence's Twitter feed. Same dark spot in same place.  

[vlaiv]

24 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

That's a possibility, but I think it's real.

It's real indeed

What is lacking is my understanding of Martian surface features

[CraigT82]

I'm now pretty certain that it isn't anything to do with Olympus Mons... what it is though, I have no idea! Might ask the Mars section at the BAA.

[markse68]

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

Thanks Mark, is that 3am UTC or BST?

 

my bad- utc does align with your image 😬

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by markse68
wrong image 🤦‍♂️

[vlaiv]

24 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

I'm now pretty certain that it isn't anything to do with Olympus Mons... what it is though, I have no idea! Might ask the Mars section at the BAA.

You mean black spot? But Olympus Mons is still there I think:

[CraigT82]

3 hours ago, vlaiv said:

You mean black spot? But Olympus Mons is still there I think:

Yes possibly, if I really squint that little bright spot could be Olympus Mons! No idea what the dark spot is, it doesn't seem to correlate to anything on any maps I can find online. Must be aliens 👽 

[JeremyS]

Fantastic job, Craig: nice work!

[Rob]

What a great image that is.. fantastic, keep them coming.

Rob