Got in a short RGB imaging run on Mars between clouds last night. Placed the image in a montage with the odd few similar scale images I got from Jan-Mar for a size comparison. It sure is getting much smaller as we leave it behind.
The seeing was ordinary, but surprisingly there was just enough recognisable detail in the red channel to allow a rough guess at how the image should be aligned in the montage - the green and blue channels were almost completely sandblasted by the jetstream though. Seeing has been a problem all along with this low elevation apparition.
Imaged with GSO f4 8inch on HEQ5pro, stacked Barlows with extension, RGB filters, DMK21, Registax/IRIS/GIMP2 processing.
Thanks for looking.
Hello Ray,
From a Noobie, I want to thank you for sharing that wonderful display of Mars. Leading up to opposition, during and after, I (tho disappointing) put my 6" scope on this planet constantly, sometimes nearly everyday if I could. Wasn't a whole lot I could see as it was so bright and so small. But I did notice changes however, and did very much notice the polar ice cap around opposition. Your pictures, give me a fantastic account of the little I could make out on my scope in a better way. If you don't mind, can I please print this and put it into my ob. file?
Really glad you found the images to be useful. I also found that the view was initially less than breathtaking - it was just an unstable fuzzy orange ball... However, after a while, the icecap began to stand out and the main dark features were also visible at times - just as you describe. I tried to get the images to look similar to the best eyepiece views.
have sent a PM re printing.
