Mars 10 Jul and 23 Jun 2018

Sebbie (Sebastian) · #1 12-07-2018, 04:34 AM

Hi everyone,

Thought I share my best Mars attempts over the past two weeks or so.

With the global dust storm raging I'm finding imaging this planet quite challenging as it is very hard to reach optimal focus with limited detail on show. The seeing has also been very variable from this location with only very brief steady periods on offer.. limiting number of usable frames.

Valles Marineris hemisphere captured on Wednesday morning seems to be the least affected with a number of surface features visible - grand canyon and tributaries, Olympus and Tharsis Ridge volcanic peaks, Solis Lacus and Nilokeras albedo features.

Full resolution links:
https://astrob.in/full/355295/0/
https://astrob.in/full/355290/0/
https://astrob.in/full/353782/0/

Thanks for having a look,
Seb

Stonius (Markus) · #2 12-07-2018, 08:51 AM

Nice captures!

Rigel003 (Graeme) · #3 12-07-2018, 10:12 AM

Well done, Seb. You've managed to pull out a lot of detail despite the dust storm. Do you have a sense that it's settling?

Paul Haese · #4 12-07-2018, 10:18 AM

Outstanding captures Seb. Looks like the dust is settling a bit.

Sebbie (Sebastian) · #5 13-07-2018, 08:25 PM

Thanks guys, I was pleasantly surprised with resolution of this stack - others were throw away.

Only hope that we'll be lucky and the storm subsides while Mars is still more than 20 seconds of arc. Will be making more attempts this weekend.. takes a lot of stamina to brave Canberra winter nights