Mars' changing face in 2005

[rumples riot]

Here is how bored I am, crap weather and nothing else to do I decided to make a compilation of my Mars images from this season.

The images are not as good as I had hoped for but have to be content with what I have achieved this season.

Comments welcome.

[RB]

That's so cool Paul.


:)

[davidpretorius]

Well done!!!

That is a great compliation!

[acropolite]

Thanks Paul Nice images, probably the only way we are going to see it down here. Be nice to get good enough weather to even see mars let alone make an image....:sad:

[Mick]

I'd be happy Paul, they are top photos mate.

[TidaLpHasE]

;)Glad you are bored, that looks great sure it's a compilation that should make the covers of an astro mag.:)

[robin]

Nice shots Paul.Well done.
While we've all got Mars fever, can someone tell me what region of Mars this is?Ive got maps here but i just cant get an exact fix on the region.
And do i have the pic oriented the right way around?
Either email me or post the answer here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/makemineameade/marsA.jpg

[rumples riot]

Robin you image is back to front but it is the region which covers Amazonis (light section) and Mare Cimmerium (dark region). The fault in the middle is Hesperia.

Thanks guys for all the comments.

[robin]

Oh right Paul, so if i do a horizontal flip in photoshop, itd be oriented right?

[cventer]

Fantastic work paul. Thats an impressive compilation.

Regards
Chris Venter

[h0ughy]

thats a great job Paul, I'd be happy with that

[iceman]

The orientation looks right to me, Robin.

Great compilation Paul, you should also put the dates as it shows how it's grown over the months.

[rumples riot]

Mike I might do another one is a week or so after closest approach and get all the dates on there at the same time.

[beren]

:) Yep top images and nicely layed out

[asimov]

Nicely done. Get bored more often.

[rumples riot]

Thanks guys, wait till after next weekend and hopefully (fingers crossed) I will have some good Mars shots from the Flinders to add to it. I already have the one from 19 Oct to add to the shot, so am trying to get the complete collage to Nov 7

[gbeal]

Nice work Paul.
I always had the idea that I would shoot an image a week for this opposition, yeah right. It would show the size changes etc. Never got it. In fact haven't had a postable image this season.

[rumples riot]

Thanks Gary, this year has had a lot of cloud and rain here in SA. Very disappointing. When the nights are clear the seeing has been less than average. Seasons are changing slowly, however not fast enough. Weather here is raining right now and really miserable. I am hoping next weekend, when some of us are in the Flinders the weather will be much better, long term forcast does not look good though. Maybe we will be lucky though. Looks like the drought is over here!!

[RB]

:jump2: :jump2: :clap:

Can't wait Paul, I love that collage.
I've got everything crossed for you.


:)

[rumples riot]

Thanks Andrew, will try my best. Just never know what will happen.

[Stu]

This always happens. Just when I have convinced myself to get a big refractor some smarty-pants planetary astrophotographer shows me why SCT's are the number 1 choice for planets.

I know, I know, aperture rules...:prey2:

[rumples riot]

Rofl, thats funny, been called a lot of things in my life; mostly not too kind but never a smarty pants planetary astrophotographer. I think I will take that as a compliment. Yeah SCT do have the edge over the shorter length refractors. If you spend say 30K on the ota of a refractor, you could get way better images than I have. Or even say getting a c9.25. Yeah that was really funny......Cool...

[ballaratdragons]

Paul, that is a great effect with all the phases!

Would make a great wall poster!

[h0ughy]

Paul as a suggestion, would it be prudent to add a nicely formatted text date field under or near each phase, just to add to the appreciation of what you have done?

[rumples riot]

Yeah could make it into a wall poster, but not likely to Ken. Good suggestion though.

H0ughy I will try to do that when I do the full version in a couple of weeks, that is if this weather ever clears up.

[videoguy]

:) Agree..Nicely presented Paul. Venus is another good target for this sort of thing.

[gaa_ian]

Great work Paul !
It's OK the shots are not perfect, caus thats just how it looked at the eyepiece over the last few months.
Keep up the great work, I too look forward to the final image.