Mar,IR,RGB + long hi res IR animation morning of Jan 21st

[Quark]

Hi All,

Imaged Mars from 11:41 pm CSST Jan 20th through to 3:07 am CSST Jan 21st. Mars varied in altitude over that time from 21 to 33 degrees.

It had been a very hot day and I had my Peltier cooling running for 2 hrs prior, with it shut down for 15 mins prior to my first capture. The ambient temp was 26 C for my first capture and was still 23 C at 3 am.

The live feed from my DMK with IR 807nm filter looked great with much fine detail visible in the raw data but the seeing was not good enough to hi res image in RGB although I did capture 5 sets of RGB data. Only 2 of those sets were reasonable and I have posted one of them here.

Captured 6 IR avi's over the 3 hrs 26 min session that are quite hi res and have posted them as individual images along with an animation of those 6 frames. This is the longest animation I have produced thus far of Mars.

Sorry about not providing labeling for the individual features in these images, simply run out of time to do them. Due to the rotational period of Mars being only slightly longer than for Earth, the view doesn't change much over 2 days so anyone that is interested can refer to the labeled images for my previous thread.

Thanks for looking.
Regards
Trevor

[Kevnool]

That animation is fantastic Trev.

The images are spectacular as well number 6 is extreme.
Cheers Kev.

[kinetic]

Hi Trev,

Astonishing detail as usual! I saw the seeing for BHill was improving around
mid week and was hoping you would take advantage of it.
Don't be so modest about your results compared to the planetary
gurus. I think you established your place among them a long time ago
mate...no question.
We were up there last weekend and I took advantage of the skies
with no moon and got some stuff roadside about Mannahill...breathtaking
darkness, makes me terribly homesick.
Anyway, brilliant stuff as usual Trev....if I have one negative comment
it would be SLOW down the animations! :) I played your mono at 1/4 speed
and the detail you can follow is absolutely incredible!

Steve

[iceman]

Do you ever sleep Trevor? Amazing images again.. Number 6 is great, very detailed.

I really need an IR pass filter!

[h0ughy]

^^^^^ LOL at Mike's comment - but i do agree. Fantastic work mate

[Rigel003]

Great images and the animation is amazing. Well done, Trevor.

[Liz]

Excellent as always Trevor, and love the animation :thumbsup:

[Quark]

Thanks Kev, the old IR filter sure makes ordinary seeing look good .



Thanks very much Steve for your comment, I take on board your remarks regarding the speed of the animation and will experiment with it. I prefer my animations to be smooth and not jerky but by the time I have enough data for a complete rotation there will be so many individual frames involved that I may well be able to slow it down and still maintain a smooth look.

This time last week we were driving back to the Hill from Adelaide, very late in the afternoon and the colours on the hills out around Yunta were amazing, something we probably take for granted, but it really did look incredible as the Sun set behind us the colours in front of us just kept changing. I think so many travel that highway and see it as desolate and uninteresting, they look but they just don't see.



Thanks Mike, it does catch up with me, I tend to be pretty lethargic during the day, my wife would probably say fuzzy, but when I get setup, especially if reasonable data is streaming in then I just get a second wind and lose all concept of time, generally until about astronomical twilight then I tend to crash.

If there is a planet that was made to be imaged in IR then Mars is it.



Thanks David, it really is amazing what amateurs can produce now days. The quality of the equipment and technology that is readily available has probably been responsible for this quantum leap over the last several years.



Thanks Graeme, must say I really do enjoy making planetary animations, the only problem being the time involved.



Thanks very much Liz, hopefully there will be enough good seeing over the next couple of weeks to produce some really bonza images.

[Paul Haese]

Nice images Trev. I really like the animation, but you know how I feel about combining IR frames into RGB sets. Nice to see you have not done this here. Keep up the good work.

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Cool animation Trev! Top stuff again. :thumbsup:

[Quark]

Thanks very much Paul, the seeing over the entire session was pretty consistent, which is the norm for out here. This is great on nights of really good seeing, it never seems to be just a window and generally lasts for hours.

The IR looked great for hours but each time I checked the red channel it was nearly good enough, but not quite, for a decent hi res RGB. On nights when the seeing is good, it tends to be so for extended periods, hours.

I still hold out hope for a real rip snorter RGB over the next couple of weeks but for my animation of a rotation project, I am resigned to the fact that it will have to be in IR.



Thanks Marc, glad you enjoyed it, I most certainly enjoyed making it.

[Lester]

Top images yet again Trevor.

Thanks for the view, and all the best.