More Mars
Saturday, August 27, 2005
In a continuing fascination with Mars 2005, I took the following images on the morning of August 27, 2005 from my backyard in Wentzville, Missouri. It was clear but VERY damp. The last several images were taken through a heavy dew coating on the corrector plate of my 10-in Meade LX-200 SCT (even with an extended dew shield). All images were taken at about f/33 (fl=8400 mm) with a ToUCam and a Barlow lens and were processed in Registax. Mars was approximately 13.6 arcsecs in diameter at this time.
Over the hour and 20 minutes between the first and last images, Mars’ rotation can be seen clearly. Martian South is at the top and Martian East is at the right. That is Hellas and Syrtis Major just coming into view in the East (right). The South Polar Cap, which is not centered on the South Pole of Mars, is shrinking fast and not rotated well into view.
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| 20050827 0958 UT Stacked 296 | 20050827 1003 UT Stacked 144 | 20050827 1021 UT Stacked 317 |
20050827 1034 UT Stacked 133 |
20050827 1037 UT Stacked 87 |
20050827 1047 UT Stacked 169 |
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| 20050827 1054 UT Stacked 199 | 20050827 1103 UT Stacked 282 | 20050827 1107 UT Stacked 284 | 20050827 1112 UT Stacked 285 | 20050827 1115 UT Stacked 297 | 20050827 1118 UT Stacked 282 |
For fun, I prepared the following stereo pair from the first and last images above. That the last image was taken in bright twilight (Sun rise was at 1126 UT) is evident from the brighter, bluish background.
