Mars - first light using ZWO 183mc

[Jeff]

Finally … after waiting over a month for that dastardly dust storm to settle down a bit, I've finally managed some recognisable Mars images. The "red planet" has been an allusive target for me after several miserable initial attempts in July.

Captured using a ZWO ASI-183mc purchased recently … attracted by it's small pixels and high QE. Plan to occasionally use it for planetary/lunar, then as a guide camera at other times.

Captured on 3 September.
180 second capture @ 8ms, gain 150.
2x PowerMate in a C9.25.

Thanks for looking!

[Saturnine]

Excellent image Jeff, has been frustrating waiting for the dust storm to clear and our own skies too. Reminds of how it looked last Sunday evening in the 12.5 '' dob, was too lazy to set up the imaging gear at the time.
Promising forecast for tomorrow and Monday !

[RickS]

Nice work, Jeff :thumbsup:

[foc]

Nice image of Mars Jeff! And it is also interesting to wonder what features may have changed a little bit from the dust storm when comparing your image to your reference figure.

[Ross G]

A great looking Mars photo Jeff.


You have captured a lot of detail.


Ross.

[Jeff]

Thanks Jeff, and agreed. Let's hope the clouds stay away for the new moon!



Thanks Rick.



Good call Ross. I'm guessing that plenty of red dust has settled across the various mountains and volcanos. If only there was a good soaking rain to clean them up again.



Thanks Ross. It's pretty modest, but I'm happy that it at least looks a bit like the WinJUPOS reference image. :thumbsup:

[Bart]

That is very cool! Nice and easy to recognise features.

[Prickly]

Hi Jeff

Super effort. Looks a good match for the c9.25

David

[Jeff]

Thanks David. The 183mc has very small pixels (2.4um), so a PowerMate was about as far as I could push under the conditions. Mars a lot more fun now that the dust storm is settling down. I'm guessing the polar caps will get a bit bigger soon as Mars creeps a bit further from the Sun.

[docboat]

Very nice picture. You have encouraged me to begin looking seriously at astrophotography. Thank you!

[Prickly]

Hi Jeff

I've just bought a c9.25 for planetary viewing. These are very inspiring images I must say. The chip should also be nice for deep sky and would work well with focal reducers I would think. A nice image of the dumbbell is in the deep sky section at the moment (same chip from memory) . Chip noise looks to be ultralow and very good quantum efficiency.

Looks a great choice to me.

Cheers
David

[astronobob]

:thumbsup: Nice going Geff
Good to see some features again, you have done well capturing & processing :thumbsup:
If only the Jet Stream would take a decent hike away from SE QLD :rolleyes:
At least some one is having a good time :P

[cometcatcher]

Nice to see an image from the 183mc! Nice detail.

[Jeff]

Thanks guys.
I appreciate the comments.