Mars - 20 December 2022

[geoflewis]

I got out again with Mars last night, hoping to grap an image with Sinus Sabaeus central and before Syrtis Major rotated out of view, as I haven't got that aspect from this apparition yet. Unfortunately, I waited too long for Mars to gain better elevation, by which time clouds poured in. I sat under those clouds for over 1 hour with a very faint Mars on screen (seen through clouds, with high camera gain) and eventually decided that I'd just better grab some data through the cloud as it thinned. Seeing was also not great, so the combination of pesky clouds and indifferent seeing made it very difficult to determine accurate focus, but that's the nature of this hobby from the UK. Anyway, I managed three reasonable 6 min runs, so this is a de-rotated stack from the best 20k frames from each of 2x6 min, i.e. 40k frames in total - trying to de-rotate all 3 images, left nasty limb artefacts. The main albedo regions are visible, but little, if any, in the way of fine detail showing.

It's not the view that I wanted, but still something for the album and it might help a bit with building a map of Mars 2022, if I ever get around to that.

EDIT: C14 + ASI462MC + Astronomik L filter + Baader Barlow lens for F21.

Edited December 21, 2022 by geoflewis
added equipment

[inFINNity Deck]

Hi geoflewis,

Nice image! What scope and camera dis you use?

Nicolàs

[geoflewis]

23 minutes ago, inFINNity Deck said:

Hi geoflewis,

Nice image! What scope and camera dis you use?

Nicolàs

Thanks Nicolàs, I updated my original post, with those details, but here you are: C14 + ASI462MC + Astronomik L filter + Baader Barlow lens for F21

[Space Cowboy]

That's a very nice image under the circumstances Geof. We fight for scraps in the UK despite our best plans.

  I'm going to try again tonight though it looks another similar forecast.

[Kon]

Excellent image! Lovely details.

[geoflewis]

4 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

That's a very nice image under the circumstances Geof. We fight for scraps in the UK despite our best plans.

  I'm going to try again tonight though it looks another similar forecast.

Thanks Stuart. it's been raining a lot here today, but I might pop my head out in an hour or so, after dinner as there is a forecast clear window before 8pm.....

Edited December 21, 2022 by geoflewis

[geoflewis]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Excellent image! Lovely details.

Thanks Kostas, I keep trying......🤷‍♂️

[Mart29]

6 hours ago, geoflewis said:

I got out again with Mars last night, hoping to grap an image with Sinus Sabaeus central and before Syrtis Major rotated out of view, as I haven't got that aspect from this apparition yet. Unfortunately, I waited too long for Mars to gain better elevation, by which time clouds poured in. I sat under those clouds for over 1 hour with a very faint Mars on screen (seen through clouds, with high camera gain) and eventually decided that I'd just better grab some data through the cloud as it thinned. Seeing was also not great, so the combination of pesky clouds and indifferent seeing made it very difficult to determine accurate focus, but that's the nature of this hobby from the UK. Anyway, I managed three reasonable 6 min runs, so this is a de-rotated stack from the best 20k frames from each of 2x6 min, i.e. 40k frames in total - trying to de-rotate all 3 images, left nasty limb artefacts. The main albedo regions are visible, but little, if any, in the way of fine detail showing.

It's not the view that I wanted, but still something for the album and it might help a bit with building a map of Mars 2022, if I ever get around to that.

EDIT: C14 + ASI462MC + Astronomik L filter + Baader Barlow lens for F21.

Stunning image mate!

[geoflewis]

18 minutes ago, Mart29 said:

Stunning image mate!

Thank you very much 😊

[geoflewis]

4 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

I'm going to try again tonight though it looks another similar forecast.

Well I tried, but the seeing was awful and then the clouds rolled in. This is a quick look from the best of the three runs tonight (21/12), well two and a half runs as clouds crashed the last one....

It's just a blur, so I won't be bothering to take the processing any further. It is best 20k frames, I also tried best 10k and equally as bad....🙄.

At least I'm back inside in the warm nice and early tonight.... 😀

 

[Space Cowboy]

16 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Well I tried, but the seeing was awful and then the clouds rolled in. This is a quick look from the best of the three runs tonight (21/12), well two and a half runs as clouds crashed the last one....

It's just a blur, so I won't be bothering to take the processing any further. It is best 20k frames, I also tried best 10k and equally as bad....🙄.

At least I'm back inside in the warm nice and early tonight.... 😀

 

That's a shame. I did better than the previous night though at a slightly lower alt. Over 100 gigs to sort through.