Mars

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Hi All
A quick stack of an avi file from yesterday morning in reasonable seeing.
Details - 127mm Triplet, 3X barlow ( 22850 f/l ) Eq6, 20% of 10,000 frames, PIPP, Registax.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's pretty cool. It's so tiny though. Might give it a go tonight see if I can find it.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Jeff
Great effort for such a dim object
I suspect it was below 50 degrees to the north east that time of morning, so you would be pushing through some turbulent salt laden air being at the Gong
I’ve attempted Mars on several occasions over the years and it’s always ended up being an orange / brown fuzzy disc
Well done !!

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Thanks guys

Great effort for such a dim object
I suspect it was below 50 degrees to the north east that time of morning, so you would be pushing through some turbulent salt laden air being at the Gong
I’ve attempted Mars on several occasions over the years and it’s always ended up being an orange / brown fuzzy disc
Well done !![/QUOTE]

Mars is now +20" so is quite large for us in our skies compared to most of the time away from opposition when it can be as small as 5 or 6". It is not a dim object either, it has a very high surface brightness. With a gain setting of about 250 and 6ms , I was capturing at 150 frames / sec. At the time I was imaging, 4:00 am Mars was past the meridian, so was NNW.

[AdamJL]

outstanding

22850 f/l... good grief, that is awesome Why are you posting in the beginners forum?!

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Thanks for the comments

Originally Posted by AdamJL

outstanding

22850 f/l... good grief, that is awesome Why are you posting in the beginners forum?!

Apologies for not proof reading my post closely enough, focal length should've read 2850mm.
I only post in the beginners section because I don't think my processing skills are good enough and I couldn't be bothered obsessing over spending hours tweaking in Pixinsight or Gimp or whatever. spend too much time staring at screens as it is.

[LostInSp_ce]

Almost a full disc, it must be close to that time of the year. This a really nice grab Jeff. Well done!

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Nice image I tried last night around 11pm Mars was at about 22' but the air was really turbulent and couldn't get a clear focus. Still I will process the files today and see what comes out.
Was using my Meade 6"ACF SCT and a ZWO178MC with Sharpcap.

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Mars reaches opposition next month, on the 14th, when it will be 22.3" dia. The largest apparent size for us until 2035 so make the most of any chance you get to observe or image the planet. Also the next 4 oppositions Mars will be further north in our skies, so lower down as well as being smaller in diameter.

Originally Posted by LostInSp_ce

Almost a full disc, it must be close to that time of the year. This a really nice grab Jeff. Well done!

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Nice image I tried last night around 11pm Mars was at about 22' but the air was really turbulent and couldn't get a clear focus. Still I will process the files today and see what comes out.
Was using my Meade 6"ACF SCT and a ZWO178MC with Sharpcap.

Similar story, I tried to image again last night and despite CFN showing dark blue ( steady ) jet steam, the warm northerly breeze was destroying the seeing. Like looking at a pebble at the bottom of a pond on a windy day. I did take 2 video files at approx 200 frames / sec but I knew they would not be any good and on reviewing the videos and trying to process one, gave up and deleted the files , as useless.

[Cliff (Clifford)]

Originally Posted by Saturnine

Similar story, I tried to image again last night and despite CFN showing dark blue ( steady ) jet steam, the warm northerly breeze was destroying the seeing. Like looking at a pebble at the bottom of a pond on a windy day. I did take 2 video files at approx 200 frames / sec but I knew they would not be any good and on reviewing the videos and trying to process one, gave up and deleted the files , as useless.

Good description !

Here's my result after stacking about 1200 images. Meade 6"ACF SCT and ZWO178MC My first ever Mars pics so I was stoked anyway

https://telescopius.com/pictures/vie...lanet/by-cliff