Contains:  Solar system body or event
Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT, Darren (DMach)

Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

This is my first image of Mars for the season, which I'm very bemused by. Early this "season" this was partly due to a particularly intense period at work, but for the past few months it has been overwhelmingly due to weather. I have had a number of good sessions with Jupiter and Saturn but, by the time Mars had risen, the clouds would arrive.

I had one night several weeks ago where I was sure I would finally get some data, but literally as soon as I'd finished checking collimation clouds again moved in to spoil the party. Frustrating!

Last night was quite hazy, with a limiting visual magnitude of around 2.0 at best. But Mars is quite bright and I've had some decent results with Jupiter despite hazy skies, so I thought I'd try my luck.

By this time Mars was almost about to disappear behind the overhang of my balcony, so I had no time to check collimation and even then ended up only capturing a single, 2 min video.

Quite pleased with the result considering, in which Olympus Mons is visible at roughly 11 o'clock as well as various other details (e.g. Valles Marineris at 3 o'clock, clouds of the north polar hood).

The original image (rev A) is presented at a slightly enlarged image scale, which is a common approach with Mars images. Personally, I prefer the 1:1 image scale (rev B) particularly given the quality of this data. I often find my eyes are distracted by the noise and blur at larger image scales, whereas they focus mainly on the detail at smaller image scales ... sometimes "less is more".

Thanks for looking!

Comments

Revisions

    Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT, Darren (DMach)
    Original
    Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT, Darren (DMach)
    B
  • Final
    Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT, Darren (DMach)
    C

B

Description: 1:1 image scale

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C

Description: Slight gamma adjustment

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Histogram

Mars (finally!): 2020-10-06 15:14 UT, Darren (DMach)