Mars & Saturn June 24th 2012

[Quark (Trevor)]

Hi All,

Imaged Mars & Saturn last night in fair conditions. It's been some time since I imaged Mars and now with an apparent dia of only 6.8 arc sec's it sure has shrunk considerably so have resampled by 150%. Have attached 1 RGB & 807nm IR data set.

Moving on to Saturn, at last there was some relief from the jetstream which has been a problem for several weeks recently.

Have attached 1 "R" channel, RGB & 807nm IR data set along with animations of all "R" & RGB data.

Of interest in the "R" animation, there seems to be a dark feature on the Southern edge of the SEB, it is seen moving from the "f' to the "p" side of the CM. There also appears to be a white spot just a little to the North of the dark feature and there are several white spots in the region of the old storm remnant.

The RGB animation seems to show a relatively large but quite diffuse white spot in the SEB + structure along the Southern edge of the old storm remnant.

Thanks for looking.

Regards
Trevor

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Good data Trevor - nice to get a break in the jetstream. It is interesting to follow the various features that you are seeing - are they also useful for refining the atmospheric models? Regards Ray

[Quark (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

Good data Trevor - nice to get a break in the jetstream. It is interesting to follow the various features that you are seeing - are they also useful for refining the atmospheric models? Regards Ray

Thanks Ray, most definitely.

Saturn's atmosphere is generally quite bland and other than last year, the storms I have tracked since 2008 have been relatively small. With the incredibly large amount of material dredged up by last years storm, we have the ideal situation to monitor the counter rotating jetstreams at various latitudes to a much higher degree than has ever previously been possible. The small spots that are migrating South, seen as the faint detail in the NEB, are a case in point. The longer it takes the great storm remnant to dissipate the more it will contribute to refining our understanding of the dynamics of Saturn's atmosphere.

[von Tom (Tom)]

Excellent work Trevor. Love the difficult Mars (I swear it rains in Brisbane everytime that part of the planet is visible!) and the Saturn animation.

Cheers,

Tom

[Clayton]

Very nice Trevor. Both Mars and Saturn

[Troy]

Good set of images 8-)

[Derek Klepp]

Thanks for the views Trevor. I've never seen that side of Mars.Glad your getting some better weather. Almost cyclonic here.

[Quark (Trevor)]

Thanks to all for your comments, I do appreciate them.

Regards
Trevor