Mars on September 6, 2018 (JDJ)

Mars on September 6, 2018

Imaged Mars on the night of September 6, 2018 under good to excellent (according to CDS) seeing and average transparency. The seeing the past few weeks was the best I experienced all year. Under these conditions, I've been able get my SCT into the best collimation I have managed. Seeing really seems to drive the quality of my planetary imaging more than any other factor...

I made captures using Baader UV-IR Cut, IR 685 nm pass, and Celestron Mars filters. Using WinJUPOS, I de-rotated and combined 4 captures for each of the three filter types as well as all 12 captures. Combining the IR pass and Mars filter data with the RGB UV-IR Cut filter data resulted in an RGB image with improved contrast. Based on the Sky&TelescopeMars Profiler, looks like the main feature in the center of the image is the Tharsis region with three large shield volcanoes just visible to the left of center. In Mars filter data taken towards the end of the session, Olympus Mons comes into view around 10 o'clock. Valles Marineris should be visible on the right side of the image, but I can't make it out.

Imaged with a C8 Evo, custom Siebert 2x barlow, ZWO ADC, Baader UV-IR Cut/Baader IR685pass/Celestron Mars filters, and ZWO ASI224MC. Imaging train was configured to give me ~F/22 (slight adjustment from the previous night to give a slightly lower F/# which enabled me to attain better ADC settings). Image capture using Firecapture. Stacking in AutoStakkert3 (best 20% of ~45000 frames captured over ~300 seconds, 1.5x drizzled). Color balancing and Wavelet sharpening in Registax6. Derotated and combined twelve total images (four for each filter type) in WinJUPOS. Final wavelet sharpening and stretch in Registax.

Solar System Imaging
Cloudy Nights

Mars

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Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

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Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
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Unknown

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