The surface of Mars in 3 recent images (Niall MacNeill)

Contains: Solar system body or event

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Over the last 3 weeks as the aspect of Mars slowly changes each night, I have been lucky enough to have had superb seeing on several occasions and to be able to produce these 3 images that span most of the surface of the planet. See the planetary map version B.

The first image (top left) was acquired on 28th August. The planet was 18.4 arc secs in apparent diameter and 91% illuminated. This images features the iconic Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system and the Tharsis Montes, the 3 smaller, yet still massive shield volcanoes in a row Arsia Mons (bottom left), Pavonis Mons (middle) & Ascraeus Mons (upper right).

The second image (top right) was acquired on 5th September and at that time the planet had increased in apparent diameter to 19.6 arc secs and was 93% illuminated. This image features the Vallis Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system.

The third image (bottom) was captured on 15th September and now, approaching opposition, the apparent diameter was 21.0 arc secs and the planet was 96% illuminated. This is one of the most famous aspects of Mars, with Sinus Meridiani, Sinus Sabaeus and Schiaparelli crater to the left, Syrtis Major at the terminator to the right and the gigantic impact crater, the Hellas Basin to its south.

Note the position of the much reduced South Polar Cap in each image. We have seen the cap shrinking dramatically in recent months and now its remnant is offset from the axis of the planet and the SPC can be seen to orbit the true south pole.

These views are all north up.

Final
Original
B

B

Description: Planetary map showing coverage of the 3 images across the 360 degrees of longitude.

Uploaded: ...

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	n/a
Started	n/a
Astrometry.net job	n/a
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Histogram

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

The surface of Mars in 3 recent images

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Histogram

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

Delete this revision?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information