Contains:  Solar system body or event
Mars 21 Mar 2024 - 5 Minute Stack, Seb Lukas

Mars 21 Mar 2024 - 5 Minute Stack

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging
Mars 21 Mar 2024 - 5 Minute Stack, Seb Lukas

Mars 21 Mar 2024 - 5 Minute Stack

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

Red Planet half an hour after sunrise on Fri 22 Mar 2024.

Bit of an experiment here with AutoStakkert's 1.5x drizzle option (pair of images in bottom row).  I wanted to see whether additional detail can be pulled from an already oversampled view.  Suffice to say that the results are encouraging, especially around the ice cap which shows additional structure.. a rift perhaps?  Seeing kept improving as the morning progressed, peaking around 7:30 am Canberra time.  Dawn sky was already very bright lowering contrast of Martian albedo features.  Resolution of the native F17 image is 0.055" or 90 km per pixel, 0.037" or 60 km for the drizzle version.

This capture is centered on longitude 265 with Mare Tyrrhenum and Syrtis Minor crossing the terminator.  Syrtis Major is rising in the west, Hellas Basin immediately to its south.  Dark markings of Zea Lacus are detectable in the middle of the Basin.  Pencil of Tritonis Sinus (at the western edge of Mare Cimmerium) is setting in the east.  Mars will continue to get higher in the morning sky unitil early June for us in the south.  Unfortunately it's not going to grow much in that time, staying under 5.2" in diameter.

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Mars 21 Mar 2024 - 5 Minute Stack, Seb Lukas