Mars closest approach - 6 Oct 2020

[geoflewis]

After 2 weeks of cloudy skies, the heavens cleared for me on 6 October allowing me to grab some data for the below image of Mars just a few hours after it's closest approach this apparition and in fact for several years to come. I say cleared, but in fact I was constantly dodging passing clouds with several video runs having to be aborted and restarted, but I got there in the end. Seeing was variable sometimes quite good, but other times more challenging, but I would say fair overall.

Most of the relevant capture details are on the annotated image. Capture was using FireCapture with the ASI290MM camera running at 13ms (~75 fps) for each filter, gain being adjusted to maintain a consistent histogram (50%) for each filter. The image comprises the best 30% of each AVI with me shooting 5xR and 4xGB, the clouds eventually shutting me down during the 5th G. I also captured 5xIR, but decided that using the 5xR stack as a luminance was slightly better than using the 5xIR for this image, so it is an R-RGB image. I have also attached the mono IR image stack for comparison.

Thanks for looking.

[jock1958]

Excellent image Geof, was out there on the 6th as well and from a visual point of view seeing was fairly good with fleeting glimpse’s of sharp detail.
Is it me or is the SPC getting increasingly small? I’m sure it was easier to see last week! 

[RayD]

Wow that's excellent, Geof 🙌

[geoflewis]

39 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Excellent image Geof, was out there on the 6th as well and from a visual point of view seeing was fairly good with fleeting glimpse’s of sharp detail.
Is it me or is the SPC getting increasingly small? I’m sure it was easier to see last week! 

23 minutes ago, RayD said:

Wow that's excellent, Geof 🙌

Thanks both, glad you like it. Yes, Mars SPC has shrunk considerably in the past couple of weeks. It is Mars summer in the southern hemisphere and Mars was at perihelion on 6 August, so still relatively close to the Sun in it's 2+ year orbit.

 

[souls33k3r]

What a great image mate. 

[geoflewis]

16 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

What a great image mate. 

Thanks, I'm pleased that you like it.

[Pete Presland]

Superb detail visible there, very nicely captured.

[geoflewis]

26 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

Superb detail visible there, very nicely captured.

Thanks Pete

[si@nite]

Lovely images Geof some good detail there, the weather here in the east mids has been pants!🌧️

[geoflewis]

45 minutes ago, si@nite said:

Lovely images Geof some good detail there, the weather here in the east mids has been pants!🌧️

Thanks Simon, it was crap here for the last 2 weeks, then 6/10 was just good enough for planetary, no chance for DSO, but it was Mars that I wanted. Having another run at it as I write. Hope it clears for you soon.

[MarkAR]

Excellent work Geoff.

 

[geoflewis]

2 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Excellent work Geoff.

Thanks Mark

[astroman001]

HI Geoff,

Great images, lots of detail despite the jetstream being around.

Peter

[geoflewis]

Thanks Peter, it doesn't have quite as much detail as yours from the 6th but I'm still very pleased with it.

[Lamaule]

Cracking image, really love the detail!

[geoflewis]

12 minutes ago, Lamaule said:

Cracking image, really love the detail!

Thanks @Lamaule. I'm pleased that you like it. I've also put up what I think is a better one, that I captured on 8 Oct, if you want to check it out.