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Close ups of the Moon and Mars occultation (8/12/22)

Kon

By Kon
in Imaging - Planetary

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Kon

Kon

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Well this morning's event does not need introduction. Somehow seeing was not good with Mars and Moon both boiling despite the lack of jetstream. I wonder if the cold spell was the culprit. By the end of the session my Dob was covered in thin ice. My best pictures came without the powermate. The first three images are before Mars disappeared behind the moon and the last one is after it emerged back out at 6am (this was with the 2.5x TV powermate); at that point clouds were rolling in and I was lucky to capture it but my focusing suffered. 8" Dob, manual, asi462mc, with or without 2.5x TV powermate.

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Nik271

Nik271

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Nice ones, Kon! I agree the seeing was on the poor side, focusing was an issue. I took some still images on my DSLR, but will have to edit them a bit, at first glance Mars is just an orange blob, no surface detail, but sharpening may reveal some.

I'm very happy at least that we managed to observe it, never mind the seeing: there were no clouds!! 

Edited by Nik271
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Kon

Kon

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25 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

Nice ones, Kon! I agree the seeing was on the poor side, focusing was an issue. I took some still images on my DSLR, but will have to edit them a bit, at first glance Mars is just an orange blob, no surface detail, but sharpening may reveal some.

I'm very happy at least that we managed to observe it, never mind the seeing: there were no clouds!! 

Thanks Nik. I agree awful seeing and cold! I took a few shots with my DSLR early on which i need to go through as well. Looking forward to your pics if you decide to post them.

By the way, the exposure I used was based on the moon so your calculation was spot on yesterday, thanks!

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U Cyg

U Cyg

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Very nicely captured, pity about the seeing, but there is some detail showing on Mars.  👍

Total cloud here for the disappearance but clear for reappearance, so I watched through binos, and grabbed a few pics with my camera through the dirty window!  It was too cold to even open the window!

I missed my first ever occultation due to being a nooby, I hadn't realised that Saturn was to disappear behind the dark part of the Moon! lol I did catch a Saturn graze though years later, and saw Venus

reappear from occultation. Great events to see.

Angie

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Kon

Kon

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57 minutes ago, U Cyg said:

Very nicely captured, pity about the seeing, but there is some detail showing on Mars.  👍

Total cloud here for the disappearance but clear for reappearance, so I watched through binos, and grabbed a few pics with my camera through the dirty window!  It was too cold to even open the window!

I missed my first ever occultation due to being a nooby, I hadn't realised that Saturn was to disappear behind the dark part of the Moon! lol I did catch a Saturn graze though years later, and saw Venus

reappear from occultation. Great events to see.

Angie

Thanks Angie. It was my first occultation to image/"observe from the laptop screen". The others were missed due to the wonderful British weather. I am glad you managed a session for the second part with your binos.

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Kon

Kon

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6 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Fabulous work Kostas, I've been working on (well fight with) mine all day. I post them shortly......

Thanks. Looking forward to them. Absolutely awful conditions last night. Despite the hard frost the seeing did not improve. I could hardly get any focus on the moon. I got some videos of the opposition that I will share soon but it wasn't easy.

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geoflewis

geoflewis

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9 minutes ago, Kon said:

Thanks. Looking forward to them. Absolutely awful conditions last night. Despite the hard frost the seeing did not improve. I could hardly get any focus on the moon. I got some videos of the opposition that I will share soon but it wasn't easy.

I've just posted what I got. Yes, the seeing was poor. It was clear earlier on, but I'm still sick with Covid, so rather than go out for the Mars up high for the opposition, I went to bed early, all drugged up and set the alarm for 4am - basically I put all my eggs in one basket for the occultation. Whilst I'm still suffering with Covid, I'm glad I did go out for that....

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Kon

Kon

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38 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

I've just posted what I got. Yes, the seeing was poor. It was clear earlier on, but I'm still sick with Covid, so rather than go out for the Mars up high for the opposition, I went to bed early, all drugged up and set the alarm for 4am - basically I put all my eggs in one basket for the occultation. Whilst I'm still suffering with Covid, I'm glad I did go out for that....

I am glad you managed to get out. There is always tonight if you are up for it but I am not sure it is any better. I am going to give it a miss. Going to check your post now.

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maw lod qan

maw lod qan

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Great work again Sir!

We had a nice conjunction here in Florida, but Mars stayed away from the moon. Seeing was poor here as well. 

I could make out the equatorial bands on Jupiter which was at the zenith,  but Mars for me was featureless. 

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Sunshine

Sunshine

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This is the first time i have ever seen such a sight, it is so outside the typical images I've seen all my life which usually involved a view of earth from the lunar surface. Here I see Mars as though it were in place of earth in all those iconic apollo images, a new vista for me, it is a bit surreal. As wonderful as this image is, I love the fact it has been made possible by a member here on SGL, a group of amazing people who never cease to amaze me.

Edited by Sunshine
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Kon

Kon

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6 hours ago, Sunshine said:

This is the first time i have ever seen such a sight, it is so outside the typical images I've seen all my life which usually involved a view of earth from the lunar surface. Here I see Mars as though it were in place of earth in all those iconic apollo images, a new vista for me, it is a bit surreal. As wonderful as this image is, I love the fact it has been made possible by a member here on SGL, a group of amazing people who never cease to amaze me.

You could not have put it any better. You are spot on regarding the views . I am fairly new to the hobby and this has to be one of the best events I have witnessed. I am glad to have captured it.

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