Moon/Mars conjunction at Mars opposition

[Victor Boesen]

While having a look at next years Mars opposition I stumbled upon this event in about a year which will likely be amazing to observe/image.

*Time in local time, UTC +1

For observers in Central/Western Europe one will be able to observe the Moon eclipse Mars and eventually for it to reappear about an hour later. At this point, however, it will be coming close to the horizon depending on you location east/westwards, but in Denmark (my location) Mars will reappear at 5:50AM UTC and about 13 degrees elevation.

I look very much forward to this event and hope that the clouds will be nice to me.

Clear skies!
Victor

[Pete Presland]

Thanks for the heads up. Clouds permitting this would be fascinating to watch, very tricky to image i would guess though.

[Victor Boesen]

2 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Thanks for the heads up. Clouds permitting this would be fascinating to watch, very tricky to image i would guess though.

Imaging it might be tricky, but I've seen very good results from similar events. For instance this one, which earned an APOD:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200815.html

[neil phillips]

13 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Thanks for the heads up. Clouds permitting this would be fascinating to watch, very tricky to image i would guess though.

Shouldnt be too bad Pete. Expected time of Mars can be watched. On a lower power eyepeice. First sign of mars appearing. Switch to the camera. And keep taking  5 min captures. Hey presto. Never done it. But if i am still ticking by then. Thats what i will try

[Stu]

On 05/12/2021 at 20:38, neil phillips said:

Shouldnt be too bad Pete. Expected time of Mars can be watched. On a lower power eyepeice. First sign of mars appearing. Switch to the camera. And keep taking  5 min captures. Hey presto. Never done it. But if i am still ticking by then. Thats what i will try

Thanks for the heads up Victor. I guess you would need to stick to much shorter runs as Mars is entering or exiting occultation otherwise won’t it just smear out all the detail as you will either be tracking one or the other?

[neil phillips]

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks for the heads up Victor. I guess you would need to stick to much shorter runs as Mars is entering or exiting occultation otherwise won’t it just smear out all the detail as you will either be tracking one or the other?

If its clear of the limb no. Still coming out i am unsure.  For those that want Mars partly obscured its a good point. Never tried so am uncertain. But a good idea to play it safe probably. 

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

If its clear of the limb no. Still coming out i am unsure.  For those that want Mars partly obscured its a good point. Never tried so am uncertain. But a good idea to play it safe probably. 

Yes, agreed if clear, I was talking about during partial occultation. Looks pretty tricky as according to SkySafari it goes from first contact to full occultation in 35 seconds. Single frames are likely to be all that works for that I guess.

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Yes, agreed if clear, I was talking about during partial occultation. Looks pretty tricky as according to SkySafari it goes from first contact to full occultation in 35 seconds. Single frames are likely to be all that works for that I guess.

Yes single frames for a mid flight shot. Focal length will affect the speed wont it. So how long someone has free of the limb. Will depend on focal length surely. The longer the focal length the faster it will appear to move. I am wondering if it would just be easier to process them seperately then combine to where it would actually be sitting. If that makes sense ? 

Edited December 29, 2021 by neil phillips

[neil phillips]

Also how far is too far from the limb ? 

[Victor Boesen]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I guess you would need to stick to much shorter runs as Mars is entering or exiting occultation otherwise won’t it just smear out all the detail as you will either be tracking one or the other?

Good point Stu... Although I've seen a couple good results despite Mars only partially occulted. Here's one from the 2003 occultation:

Image by Ron Dantowitz

I have also seen one from a recent occultation, however, I can't seem to find it. I think some experienced planetary imagers will have little problems capturing plenty of detail. Especially with today's high framerate cameras.

[neil phillips]

2 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

Good point Stu... Although I've seen a couple good results despite Mars only partially occulted. Here's one from the 2003 occultation:

Image by Ron Dantowitz

I have also seen one from a recent occultation, however, I can't seem to find it. I think some experienced planetary imagers will have little problems capturing plenty of detail. Especially with today's high framerate cameras.

From what Stu was saying  that last mars shot from clearing the limb will take roughly 8 mars diameters. So that last mars shot from clearing the limb is 8 x35 seconds = 280 seconds. What i am uncertain about is how to process both so there is no blur. Wondering if it would have to be done seperately if some wanted to capture more frames or more detail. twice the distance from the from the moon than this shot. Would enable a higher focal length wouldnt it ? 

[neil phillips]

Once its cleared the limb any amount of frames can be used from any amount of capture time i think. By continually filming. it can be chopped into any sections you want. But may have to be processed seperately for long stacks. 

[Victor Boesen]

15 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

From what Stu was saying  that last mars shot from clearing the limb will take roughly 8 mars diameters. So that last mars shot from clearing the limb is 8 x35 seconds = 280 seconds. What i am uncertain about is how to process both so there is no blur. Wondering if it would have to be done seperately if some wanted to capture more frames or more detail. twice the distance from the from the moon than this shot. Would enable a higher focal length wouldnt it ? 

Now I get what you mean I think you're right. Blending two images together will probably be the best solution to keep detail on the Martian and Lunar disk. Certainly an interesting imaging challenge and not something that's easy to prepare yourself for before the event!

[neil phillips]

14 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

Now I get what you mean I think you're right. Blending two images together will probably be the best solution to keep detail on the Martian and Lunar disk. Certainly an interesting imaging challenge and not something that's easy to prepare yourself for before the event!

 You would have thought by now i would have done this. But i have not. I still think any amount of capture time is useful from it appearing because any amount can be extracted from pipp. or other programs surely ? No need to keep stopping and starting surely. infact from that perspective 10 min capture would get everything you could possibly want or use with various distances from the lunar limb just by chopping the sections you want to use ? Rotation blur wouldnt apply if chopping sections smaller 6mins is safe ground. for mars alone. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by neil phillips

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Victor Boesen said:

Good point Stu... Although I've seen a couple good results despite Mars only partially occulted. Here's one from the 2003 occultation:

Image by Ron Dantowitz

I have also seen one from a recent occultation, however, I can't seem to find it. I think some experienced planetary imagers will have little problems capturing plenty of detail. Especially with today's high framerate cameras.

The cynic on me says that is a composite ie a stacked Mars imaged positioned to simulate the occultation. Otherwise I can’t see how you get that much detail without it smearing.

[Stu]

40 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

 You would have thought by now i would have done this. But i have not. I still think any amount of capture time is useful from it appearing because any amount can be extracted from pipp. or other programs surely ? No need to keep stopping and starting surely. infact from that perspective 10 min capture would get everything you could possibly want or use with various distances from the lunar limb just by chopping the sections you want to use ? Rotation blur wouldnt apply if chopping sections smaller 6mins is safe ground. for mars alone. 

That makes total sense Neil.

[neil phillips]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

That makes total sense Neil.

 

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

The cynic on me says that is a composite ie a stacked Mars imaged positioned to simulate the occultation. Otherwise I can’t see how you get that much detail without it smearing.

Also looks very evenly placed. (almost measured ) though i havent checked lol.  Timing could do it. But it does look like a composite. Cant be certain though ? But think of it from this perspective. if the distance and angle is correct. if the face of mars showing at that time is correct. Then other than detail. its exactly as it would look in a single frame. But not being live especially from a purist. perspective. Does seem like trickery. But even stacking is trickery of sorts. Personally i have no problem with it. 

Doing a long capture would also make a great smooth animation. 

[reezeh]

Don't worry. I can see FLO selling lots and lots of lovely new kit and all the clouds they pack spoiling everyone's view 😂😂😂