Mars atmosphere seems calmer (11/10/22)

[Kon]

I had a nice session with Mars this morning at around 530am. It seemed fairly stable considering that Jupiter was a no go at around midnight (at least i got some sleep). Interestingly, the sand storm that was going on on the South pole from my previous capture seems to have subdued. The North polar cap is also showing less clouds as well. Quite a dramatic difference from 2 days ago (second pic). For the Mars experts, what is the red feature towards the centre of the pic. I could not find any info. I have seen it is several of my captures (and others that have posted here); a long going storm? (8" Dob, asi462, 2.5x TV powermate).

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Kon

[neil phillips]

8 minutes ago, Kon said:

I had a nice session with Mars this morning at around 530am. It seemed fairly stable considering that Jupiter was a no go at around midnight (at least i got some sleep). Interestingly, the sand storm that was going on on the South pole from my previous capture seems to have subdued. The North polar cap is also showing less clouds as well. Quite a dramatic difference from 2 days ago (second pic). For the Mars experts, what is the red feature towards the centre of the pic. I could not find any info. I have seen it is several of my captures (and others that have posted here); a long going storm? (8" Dob, asi462, 2.5x TV powermate).

 

Love it Kon second one for me. Was going to try after Jupiter but the cold got to me

[Kon]

3 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Love it Kon second one for me. Was going to try after Jupiter but the cold got to me

Thanks Neil; the second one is from the 9th. I will have another go on today's capture; I may have gone overboard with wavelets on the first one.😬. 

[Kon]

5 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Love it Kon second one for me. Was going to try after Jupiter but the cold got to me

ps Jupiter was showing the same mess as like the weekend, not sure what is going on. Even Mars started badly and only around 6 it stabilised.

[neil phillips]

13 minutes ago, Kon said:

ps Jupiter was showing the same mess as like the weekend, not sure what is going on. Even Mars started badly and only around 6 it stabilised.

got a great example of lunar in colour showing the distortions last night. Jupiter was a battle for sure. like always i battled through and got something not the best but something. Winter has worsened the outcomes. Do you capture over houses Kon ? 

[Kon]

3 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

got a great example of lunar in colour showing the distortions last night. Jupiter was a battle for sure. like always i battled through and got something not the best but something. Winter has worsened the outcomes. Do you capture over houses Kon ? 

I am in the countryside so open space. I noticed that at 6 we were getting some frost and I wonder if that helped with the stable atmosphere. Again no jet stream last night but Jupiter was fuzzy; I could get a bit of focus for a split sec but that was it, not consistently; it was not worth it staying up.

Your moon capture seems interesting.

[neil phillips]

5 minutes ago, Kon said:

I am in the countryside so open space. I noticed that at 6 we were getting some frost and I wonder if that helped with the stable atmosphere. Again no jet stream last night but Jupiter was fuzzy; I could get a bit of focus for a split sec but that was it, not consistently; it was not worth it staying up.

Your moon capture seems interesting.

Do you use a fan on your dob. falling temperatures can play havoc with a mirrors ability to keep up with falling temperatures. that's what it could be. if you use a fan. what i do is let it run for a bit. turn it off. wait for the image to stabilize. capture. And just keep doing it through the night. It won't cure the problem, but it can help. 

[Kon]

5 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Do you use a fan on your dob. falling temperatures can play havoc with a mirrors ability to keep up with falling temperatures. that's what it could be. if you use a fan. what i do is let it run for a bit. turn it off. wait for the image to stabilize. capture. And just keep doing it through the night. It won't cure the problem, but it can help. 

No fan, I hadn't thought about it since it is only an 8". I usually leave my Dob out for 1hr to stabilise. Did you get anything decent on Jupiter last night?

[Nik271]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

. For the Mars experts, what is the red feature towards the centre of the pic. I could not find any info. I have seen it is several of my captures (and others that have posted here); a long going storm? (8" Dob, asi462, 2.5x TV powermate).

 

Your image is upside down. Here it is in correct orientation (north up). The red blob (circled) must be Lunae planum and the dark region next to should be Xanthe terra. You got valles Marineris (circeld on the left) as well!

[CraigT82]

Nice images, loads of surface detail coming through now. As you say the dust storm seems to be shrinking or maybe it’s migrated over to the other side and we will see it in the other hemisphere?  The red feature you mention is a plain which contains Candor Chasma, a large part of the Valles Marineris. You can see it well in this one from last opposition:

[Kon]

@Nik271and @CraigT82thank you both for the info on the reddish patch. It seemed rather prominent relative to what I had seen on other images (could be the sharpening). 

It will be good to get some images on the other side if the weather plays ball.