Montage of images from the 2022/23 Mars appatition

[geoflewis]

Here is a montage of some of the images that I captured during the 2022/23 apparition of Mars. The images have been sized to accurately display their relative apparent size and phase. I was a bit late starting on 18 Oct 2022, with the last image centre right captured 23 Feb 2023. The centre image was captured when Mars was close to maximum apparent diameter of 17.2 arcsecs, whereas by 23 Feb 2023, it was half that size and looks even smaller due to it's shrinking phase.

There are 2 versions, the 2nd being annotated with the dates of each capture.

Thanks for looking.

[CraigT82]

Very nice Geof, have you done a Mars map this year? can’t remember if I saw you post one or not, seems like you’ve got more than enough coverage for it. 
 

Looks like there was a hell of a dust storm in Hellas basin in your first image.

[MarkRadice]

Looks beautiful Geof. What a fantastic set of images. Well done! Not long until our next opposition in 2025 😞

[Sunshine]

This is great! It's like a mars cluster!

[Jasonb]

That's amazing, and fascinating to see the detail and the change in size!

[geoflewis]

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Very nice Geof, have you done a Mars map this year? can’t remember if I saw you post one or not, seems like you’ve got more than enough coverage for it. 
Looks like there was a hell of a dust storm in Hellas basin in your first image.

Thanks Craig, yes I posted a Mars map a couple of months ago....

Yes, there had been a major dust storm prior to me starting my series, but I did catch the last knockings of it.

[geoflewis]

2 hours ago, MarkRadice said:

Looks beautiful Geof. What a fantastic set of images. Well done! Not long until our next opposition in 2025 😞

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

This is great! It's like a mars cluster!

2 hours ago, Jasonb said:

That's amazing, and fascinating to see the detail and the change in size!

Thanks everyone, it's the first time I dedicated such a long period to a single target, so it was good to compile a fairly complete record of this apparition. With Mars riding so high from the UK this apparition, I felt that it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

 

[carastro]

Excellent work and results.

Carole 

[geoflewis]

4 minutes ago, carastro said:

Excellent work and results.

Carole 

Thanks Carole

[Space Cowboy]

That's a very nice winter harvest Geof! Considering the weather wasn't great you've pulled out some excellent detail.

Many hours of work there for sure!

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

That's a very nice winter harvest Geof! Considering the weather wasn't great you've pulled out some excellent detail.

Many hours of work there for sure!

Thanks Stuart, yes, many mostly fun hours and quite a few of those resizing the captured images the last couple of days, so that I could accurately display the changing relative apparent diameters. I didn’t consider that when changing amplification, capture ROI, etc., and different display resolution during processing. Fortunately, WinJupos came to the rescue allowing me to convert the images to a consistent arcsec/px scale. It certainly had me scratching my head for a while….. 🤔

[orion25]

Brilliant composite of images, Geof! Wonderful detail!

Cheers!

Reggie

[glafnazur]

Fantastic montage, it really puts the change in size in perspective. 👍

[RobertI]

Outstanding work and beautifully presented. 👍

[JeremyS]

Superb work, Geof 👍🏻

[saac]

Stunning detail in those, well done. 

Jim 

[geoflewis]

6 hours ago, orion25 said:

Brilliant composite of images, Geof! Wonderful detail!

Cheers!

Reggie

6 hours ago, glafnazur said:

Fantastic montage, it really puts the change in size in perspective. 👍

3 hours ago, RobertI said:

Outstanding work and beautifully presented. 👍

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Superb work, Geof 👍🏻

3 hours ago, saac said:

Stunning detail in those, well done. 

Jim 

Thanks everyone, your feedback is very much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Kon]

Excellent composition and hats off to your dedication and consistent processing! There are many hours of frustration, capturing and processing in these images. I am looking forward to seeing what you can do in 2023.

[geoflewis]

4 minutes ago, Kon said:

Excellent composition and hats off to your dedication and consistent processing! There are many hours of frustration, capturing and processing in these images. I am looking forward to seeing what you can do in 2023.

Thanks Kostas, I think we all had a lot of fun with Mars this apparition, with it riding nice and high. I’ve now got my QSI CCD camera on the C14 for galaxy season, but there’s nothing but cloud currently. I have considered having a go at Venus, but I don’t have a UV filter and really want to focus on galaxies the next couple of months. I’m looking forward to a higher altitude Jupiter later in 2023; it’s been a long wait for it to gain a decent elevation as seen from the UK, so hopefully we’ll be able to capture some decent data.

[Kon]

7 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Thanks Kostas, I think we all had a lot of fun with Mars this apparition, with it riding nice and high. I’ve now got my QSI CCD camera on the C14 for galaxy season, but there’s nothing but cloud currently. I have considered having a go at Venus, but I don’t have a UV filter and really want to focus on galaxies the next couple of months. I’m looking forward to a higher altitude Jupiter later in 2023; it’s been a long wait for it to gain a decent elevation as seen from the UK, so hopefully we’ll be able to capture some decent data.

Yes it was fun despite the awful weather. I am enjoying the Venus imaging and still getting my head around with the filters and what is real feature and what's not; but a lot of excellent advice here.

I hope you enjoy your galaxy season. I had a great visual session a few weeks ago.

[GordonD]

That is an outstanding piece of work - well done.

[geoflewis]

Just now, GordonD said:

That is an outstanding piece of work - well done.

Thanks Gordon, I'm pleased that you like it and appreciate your generous comments..

[astroavani]

Now that I saw this post!
I really liked the way you composed the images, I think that way they are more valued than simply in a straight line.
This reminds me of the last contest I entered for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich where I believe a composite image of Mars was discarded simply because it resembled the Nike logo. As Nike is American, I think it was not well seen by the British 😄

[astroavani]

PS: Interesting that the image that won first place in the contest was extremely similar to mine, it just didn't use the Nike logo 😢

 

[geoflewis]

15 minutes ago, astroavani said:

Now that I saw this post!
I really liked the way you composed the images, I think that way they are more valued than simply in a straight line.
This reminds me of the last contest I entered for the Royal Observatory in Greenwich where I believe a composite image of Mars was discarded simply because it resembled the Nike logo. As Nike is American, I think it was not well seen by the British 😄

Thanks Avani, I was trying to demonstrate Mars getting closer, then fading into the distance. I had seen other similar presentations, so not entirely my own creation. Nike is well known in UK, but if that is the reason it was discarded, then that is crazy indeed....!!