Mars 12th Dec 09

[Clayton]

Finally half decent conditions :thumbsup:
Even though, the result is fairly ordinary :rolleyes:
Still it's better than my last effort :P
Usual stuff 8", f6, Newtonian. 2x Barlow, ToUcam 840K, Registax V5, CS3.

[Quark]

Hi Clayton,

Isn't it great being up so early.
Nothing like starting the day with a pre dawn Mars session, could probably only be bettered by a pre dawn Saturn session, but then I seem to have this bias to Saturn.

Mars is coming closer and was 11 arc sec's this morning, however 11" is still not very much in the scheme of things but with an 8" aperture you have done a good job.

Cheers
Trevor

[Clayton]

Thanks Trevor,
I feel that I could have done better if my mount didn't have a very jerky RA drive:( Registax only managed to salvage 23 frames from nearly 2000.
Many discarded through poorer seeing as usual but many due to RA movement smearing as well :doh:
Hopefully I can sort out something before opposition :prey::prey:
I beg to disagree with you about early mornings :rofl: It's only because I'm hooked on this pursuit that I force myself out of a warm, perfectly comfortable bed. to sit out in the dark in front of a laptop :screwy::screwy::P But I'll be out there with you for Saturn;):lol::lol:

[telecasterguru]

Clayton,

I think you are doing a sterling job capturing the red planet.

Frank

[stephenb]

TRhey are beautiful, Clayton. Well done. But you can have the early mornings to yourselves.