Mars 2005

Mars is back!  This will be the closest Mars in  a very long time.  Unless specified, these images were taken with a C11 borrowed from Tomio Akutsu on an AP900GTO mount. My imager is a  DMK21BF04 monochrome camera.  A Homeyer motorized filter wheel was used to produce an RGB image.  I used an Astrophysics Barcon working at 3X with an Astrophysics Maxbright Diagonal as my UV-IR blocking filter.    To capture I used Peter Katreniak's K3CCD Tools V2 and The Imaging Source IC Capture 2.0.  For processing, I used Registax V3 by Cor Berrevoets.  I would wish to thank the people of The Imaging Source (esp. Stefan Geissler) , Peter K3 and Cor for all their help.  A special thanks to Anthony Wesley and Wes Higgins for their patience and help in making my decision on which camera to replace my Toucam.

Links to Mars Images and Info:

ALPO Archives

Japan ALPO Mars Latest

ALPO Mars Section

 

January 27, 2006

Mars is getting smaller and smaller.  Seeing was around 6/10 with 4/5 transparency.  There is a huge cloud covering Hellas.  Syrtis Major is very prominent and very well resolved.  There are some clouds on the south polar region and a hint of the SPH.  The NPH is very prominent.

 

January 13, 2006

It's Friday the 13th!  But it's a lucky day for me.  Seeing was around 8/10 with 4/5 transparency. 

This  image displays the Mare Erythraeum/Chryse Region.  Solis Lacus is rising on the right.  There is no hint of the SPC or and SPH.  The NPH is very prominent.  There seems to be some light clouds covering Chryse Region.

 

January 11, 2006

The sky finally  cleared after a week of crummy weather.  Seeing was around 6/10 with 4/5 transparency.  Solis Lacus is prominent on this image.    The SPC and the SPH are not visible.  

 

January 4, 2006

Here's another image of Mars.  Conditions were the same as yesterday but transparency was at 3/5.  The south pole is still cloudy.  There is a hint of Olympus Mons.  Solis Lacus is setting on the left.  There is a big bright cloud just north of Solis Lacus.

 

January 3, 2006

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's my first image of the year.  Mars is moving away and getting smaller.  Seeing was around 6/10 with 4/5 transparency.

Note the south polar clouds and the clouds covering Mare Sirenum and Cimmerium.  There are also clouds in the Solis Lacus area and Tharsis.

Note Olympus Mons which is still visible but you have to look closely at the image.

 

 

December 27, 2005

It's been about a week of clouds.  I had some clearing today.   Seeing was around 7/10 but transparency was around 3/5. 

Mare Cimmerium is at the CM.  Note the clouds on the South Polar region and the clouds at the southern region around Hellas and Mare Australe.  Note also the clouds at Elysium.  There is a brightening at the Tharsis  region.

 Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to all!

December 20, 2005

Seeing was around 8/10 this evening.  Note the cloud at the south pole.  Is this the south polar hood?  The South Polar Cap is still visible. Note the long cloud at Hellas.

Syrtis Major is at the CM with Syrtis Minor on the left.  The canal details at Moab/Arabia is still visible.  Below is the blue channel of the image on the right.

December 19, 2005

After weeks of clouds, clear skies at last!  Seeing was around 8/10 this evening.  I was tweaking the collimation of the C11 and I was able to improve the collimation.

Mars is getting smaller and smaller!  Note the details on the Hellas Region including the round feature there.  Note also the long cloud that cuts from Hellespontus to Hellas.

Note also the round features in Moab/Arabia region.  There are also interesting "canals" cutting through the Moab.

The South Polar cap is still visible but very small now.  It is also surrounded by clouds.  The South Polar Hood seems to be building up!

 

December 5, 2005

Seeing was 7/10 this evening with 3/5 transparency.  Here's an image of Solis Lacus.  

I  did something interesting with this image.  After talking with David Tyler, I am processing this image using the Cidadao R(G)B method.  I used RR(G)B in this image.  Cloud details look a lot better with this method.  Will try to reprocess my old images to see which is better.

UPDATE: I did a comparison between RR(G)B and true RRGB.  Now which of the two is better?  Take your pick!

 

December 4, 2005

Mars is slowly moving away and getting smaller!  This images features Solis Lacus that the Tharsis Volcanoes.  You can even see Olympus Mons on the lower right side of this image.  It is the dark patch surrounded by a white ring.

The south polar cap is still visible and there are clouds around the area of the SPC.  The north polar hood is still prominent.

12/13/05 Update:  I reprocessed my ealier image emphasizing the green channel of this image.  I also enlarged the image a little bit.  Note the details on Tharsis!!

 

November 28, 2005

A Wonderful Night!  Seeing was perfect at 9/10 with 5/5 transparency.  This is the first time that I got all three rgb channels just right! 

Here's an image of the Tharsis Region with it's volcanoes!  Note the bright yellow streaks on Tharsis.  Are these dust storms?  Solis Lacus is setting in this image.  Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system is the dark spot on the lower left of Mars.

 

November 27, 2005

Seeing was around 6/10 today.  Still in the Mare Cimmerium region of Mars.  The SPC is still visible but dim on this image.    My image is a little underexposed tonight.

 

November 24, 2005

Seeing was around 7/10 today.  Here's an RRGB image of the Mare Cimmerium region of Mars.    I was imaging with Brian Davis today.  He came over from Manila. 

Note the cloud details on the right side.  Note also the tiny SPC.

 

November 23, 2005

Seeing was around 8/10 today.  Here's an RRGB image of the Mare Cimmerium region of Mars.  The cloud details are better today.

Nov 24 Update: Just processed more images last night.  I have a big backlog of images to process.  I haven't even finished last Saturday's images and I now have to process images I took on Nov 24. Note the details in the Electra/Eridania region.  Note also the brights spots on the northern Chaos and Phlegra region.  Note also the tiny and dim south polar cap!!

November 22, 2005

Seeing was around 7/10 today.  Here's an RRGB image of the Mare Cimmerium region of Mars.  Note also the details on the northern Chaos region.

I am still experimenting on color combinations with Mars.  Please let me know if you like this color better than the red Mars...

 

November 20, 2005

Seeing was around 8/10 tonight with 4/5 transparency.  Details are great in Mare Tyrrhenum and Cimmerium.  There are clouds in the sunrise ares of Syrtis Major and Hellas region. 

This is an RRGB image.

 

 

November 19, 2005

After 1 week of clouds are rain due to Typhoon Bolaven, it's finally clear.  I spent this evening with Tomio Akutsu.   Seeing around 6-7/10 with 4/5 transparency.   We took a lot of images (about 20Gb worth)  this evening that it will take days to process these! 

This is an RRGB image of Mars.  Lot of details on Mars with Syrtis Major rising.  There is a reddish hue on Syrtis Minor.  Mare Cimmerium is very well resolved and so is Mare Tyrrhenum.

 
November 12, 2005

I wasn't expecting to do any imaging tonight.  Conditions were bad this afternoon with lots of clouds!  Even the satellite image of our area was not great: clouds all over and it streched for hundreds of miles!  At 9pm the sky cleared!!  I mean it was very clear and transparency was 5/5!!   A northeasterly wind helped stabilized the air and I got 8/10 seeing!  I got lots of data tonight around 12.5GB. Will spend the next few days processing these...

This is an image of Mars Syrtis Major region with Sinus Sabaeus on the right. The SPC is still visible but it is now very small! 

 

November 10, 2005

I wasn't expecting to image this evening.  Conditions were very bad early in the evening with a Tropical Storm affecting Luzon.  It was mostly cloudy during early evening but the sky cleared by 9:30pm.  Seeing conditions improved a lot as time went by. 

Here's an image of Sinus Sabaeus and Syrtis Major.   Except for some cloud activity on the right side of Mars, things seem quiet with no dust storms..

 

November 8, 2005

Conditions were terrible this evening.  There was a huge thunder cloud coming in so I only had a small window to image Mars.  Seeing was 4/10 withe very low transparency.

This is an image of Mars with Sinus Sabaeus at the center and Syrtis Major setting on the left. 

 

November 7, 2005

Seeing and transparency was excellent this evening. I am still working on getting better B and G channels for this image.  I was only able to take one image tonight before clouds rolled in but condition was excellent! 

The SPC is still prominent in this image.  Note the nice cloud feature on the right limb of Mars.  Sinus Sabaeus is well resolved and Syrtis Major is coming up!  This image is slightly sharper than my yesterday's image!  I found out that I could focus better with the green channel rather than the red.

 

November 6, 2005

Here's another try on Mars.  Transparency not great tonight but seeing was a little more steady.  I used 15fps for this exposure.  Color is a little better than the previous night because I slightly increased the number of frames I acquired.  The cloud details are better now than before.

November 5, 2005

Here's my second try on Mars with the DMK Camera.  Note the bright outflow at the equator between Sinus Sabaeus and Mare Erythraeum.  My R and G channels are now rightly exposed while I still have to work on the B channel which is very grainy. 

 

November 4, 2005

I just came back from my trip to the USA and I now have a new camera!!  This RGB  images was taken using a DMK 21BF04 camera with my Homeyer motorized filter wheel.  Image acquisition was done using K3CCD Tools V2.

Still need to work on the Green and Blue channels which were underexposed.  I used 30fps uncompressed mode for this image.

A special thanks to Peter Katreniak for his help to make the DMK work on K3CCD Tools.  Also thanks to Shane Jennings and Stefan Geissler for helping me figure out how the DMK works!

 

October  10, 2005

I took another chance at Mars with the C11.  I recollimated while watching the live feed of Mars!!  The image is much better now.  Seeing was around 8/10 with 5/5 transparency!!  The image is still a little mushy and maybe can still do a little more tweak.  What do you think?

In this image, Syrtis Major and Sinus Sabaeus are very prominent.  So also is the round feature at the Hellas region.

This was imaged with a Toucam 2.

October  8, 2005

IHere's my latest image of Mars.  I used Tomio's C11 for this image.  Thanks to John Nassr for tweaking the optics of this scope!!  Tomio was with me when I imaged this!

Seeing wasn't great at  around 6/10 with 5/5 transparency.   Here's an image of the Syrtis Major region with Hellas on top of it and Sinus Sabaeus on the right.

 

October 4, 2005

IHere's my latest image of Mars.  Seeing was around 7/10 with 5/5 transparency.    This is Sinus Sabaeus area.  This is very memorable for me because my first image of Mars was exactly this region.

Note the busy Northern Polar Region.  The hard edge is a little softer now!!

 

September 25, 2005

I am still learning how to image Mars again.  This image of Mars is a little better than my image yesterday.  Softer processing.  Note the bluish North Polar region.  Solis Lacus and Mare Erythraeum is visible on the upper part of Mars.  The Chryse Region is also coming into view.

 

September 24, 2005

After 2 months of rain, I finally have a clear skies!! I imaged with Tomio this evening.

This is my first image of Mars since 2003!!  Solis Lacus is the main feature of this image.  The lighter side of Mars on the northern half is the Tharsis Volcanic Region.  Olympus Mons is the dark spot on the lower right of the image.  Seeing ranged from 6-8/10 this evening. 

© Christopher Go 2005-06

HOME