Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri

Images were taken using a ToUCam 840Pro camera and switching to a DBK21FA04. AS camera beginning Oct 17th on a 12-inch Newtonian telescope. Mars is shown with South at the top and rotates from right to left. The date is shown as year-month-day. The names of surface markings can be found on Damien Peach’s excellent Mars map. See 2007 Mars Map . Some pictures taken during the global dust storm contain Mars Previewer II simulation. Good seeing to all in 2007.  Jim Melka

Santa delivered very good seeing on Christmas night. Gray clouds span the entire diameter of the South temperate regions with clouds and hazes on both limbs. NPC and artic hazes at the bottom are prominent. The new vertical streak in Aethiopis(left of center) is still visible. A cloud band is visible over N.E Syrtis Major. Happy New Year!  Jim

Images taken on Evening of Dec. 23rd in poor to fair seeing with Mars at Opposition with Earth. North Polar Cap at bottom becoming more established as shown in the red image. Syrtis Major on the central Meridian continues to show a bright eastern (left) side compared with before the dust storms. Good seeing. Jim Melka

Images recorded in evening of Dec 18th. Poor to fair seeing. Left PM limb cloud to the left (East) of Syrtis Major. The entire right (morning) limb is cloudy and foggy from the green and blue images. DBK color and red image shows North Polar Cap over Dioscuria and Cydonia. NPH visible especially to the West of polar cap.  Good seeing, Jim

Images recorded in evening of Dec 13th. Seeing was fair. Left PM limb cloud band over W. Aeria, E. Sabeus and Serpentis. Red filter shows North Polar Cap over E. Boreum & Baltia. AM limb cloud band over Thaumasia. NPH still visible over N. Acidalium & E. Tempe. Images by amateurs show that the NPC has over the last 3 weeks increased greatly. Interesting is that it happened at the very end of the Winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. Good seeing. Jim Melka

	Color and blue-filter Images on November 28, 2007. Note the cloud band over the South Polar Region and over Eastern Hellas at the two-o’clock position on the morning (right) limb in both images . The bright NPH clouds at the bottom continue to be  very robust. Good seeing.

Images on November 20, 2007. Note the white cloud band over the upper left afternoon limb. The NPH at a CM of 296 is very robust in green and blue images. A fragmented NPC is visible in red. DBK color and green images show bright cloud band on pm limb from Tritonis thru Hesperia and Tyrrhenum.  Located above the dominent Syrtis Major is Hellas the largest known impact basin in our solar system. The southern part of Hellas is unexplainably dark. Good seeing, Jim

DBK full color image and blue filter image on Nov 02, 2007. Full Color image obtained by combining about 600 frames out of 1500 frames captured at 30fps. Blue-filter image obtained by combining about 600 frames out of 1500 frames captured at 15fps. Jim Melka	Green-filter image and red-filter image on Nov 02, 2007. Filtered images obtained by combining about 500 frames out of 1500 frames captured at 15fps. Good seeing. Jim Melka

Image on Nov 02, 2007. The thick fog in the South polar region shown at the top in the image on the right has mostly dispersed revealing left to right dark Aonius Sinus, an anomalous ‘Sinus’ and bright western Phaethontis and Electris. The ‘Sirenum Extension’ just East of Mare Sirenum is very dark but Eastern Sirenum light. Good seeing. Jim Melka	Images on Oct 30, 2007. Both images show immense North Polar Hood and faint equatorial white clouds near the sunset (left) limb. Mare Chronium and other dark features in the deep south are hidden by a large dense fog assumed to be close to the ground since it is not shown in the blue image. Jim Melka

Images recorded on October 20th with poor seeing. Syrtis Major near morning limb on the right with the impact basin Hellas above it. Dark features are blurry with the rough seeing. North Polar Hood at bottom in both images continues to be dense. Jim	Images recorded on October 17th with only fair seeing. Syrtis Major at center with the impact basin Hellas above it dominate  the view as well as the North Polar Hood at the bottom. I operated at 15fps with the gain setting at max and I noticed that the view of mars on the pc display was much clearer with less noise than using the ToUCam II. Good seeing. Jim Melka

Images recorded on September 28 with good seeing. Sirenum extension prominent and distinct outlines of Olympus Mons & Ascraeus Mons. NPH brightest on western side with a broad shadow to the North. Shadow not visible on the ground in red-filter image and outlines of volcanoes very vague. Jim Melka	Green image shows outlines of volcanoes as well as shadow of NPH. This would imply the shadow is cast upon a dust layer above the ground. NPH brightly visible and its shadow faintly visible in blue image. Jim Melka

Images recorded on September 21 with good seeing. The dark circular area in the color image marks the position of Olympus Mons, the highest and largest volcanic mountain on the Tharsis shield. It is barely visible in the red-filter image which also shows dark markings in the North polar region hidden by the North Polar Hood in the color image. Jim Melka	Green and blue filtered Images recorded on September 21. The green image shows the Olympus Mons feature along with Propontis and Mare Boreum in the NPR, similar to the red image on the left. The blue filter image shows only the NPH. Best of seeing to all.  Jim Melka

Images recorded on Sep 13, 2007 showing Syrtis Major rising on the morning limb on the right. Compare with Sep 05 where Syrtis Major is setting. South polar region shows a blue icy haze and the North polar region is covered by a large cloud of decending ice particles, known as the north polar hood (NPH). This is likely part of the process in growing the north polar cap. Good seeing, Jim Melka	Image recorded on Sep 05, 2007. It looks like there is a large dust cloud over western Hellas with a dust band extending westward. And maybe a dust cloud possibly over Edom (bright). Antarctic icy haze at the top and north polar hood broad where it is Winter in the Northern hemisphere. NPH visible. Jim Melka

Images recorded on September 1st at times noted. The Eos and Chryse regions are about the same as they were on Aug 31st. These regions might bear watching. Dust clouds now appear to cover much of Noachis. Jim Melka	Image recorded on Aug 31 11:02UT. NPH prominent. Eos, Chryse and into Indus are very bright. This area could contain dust clouds. This is the region where I think the first dust clouds erupted on June 23rd. Meridiani is now mostly clear. Dust clouds may be headed eastward toward Noachis.  Jim Melka

Image recorded on Aug 23, 2007 at times noted. Dust haze everywhere with local dust clouds in Juventae Fons and Claritis. New large dark marking to the right of Solis Lacus in Daedalia that was not present in 2005-2006. Jim Melka	Image recorded on Oct 2nd 1973 at 03:30UT. New large dark marking to the right of Solis Lacus in Daedalia that was not present in 1971. Jim Melka

Image recorded on Aug 11, 2007 at 10:23UT. Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium prominent. Dust clouds especially apparent in NE Cimmerium. Also in the desert region Aetheopis below and to the right of center, a slightly brighter area in the shape of an anvil.	Images recorded on Aug 1, 2007 at 10:29UT and 10:54UT with good seeing. Syrtis Major and Hellas above it visible but obscured by dust in left image; 25 minutes later they have rotated to the left. The right image clearly shows a bright cloud in Meridiani. Both images show a dust "bridge" crossing the Hellespontus from Noachis to Hellas. SPC dimly visible at top. Jim Melka

Image recorded on July 26, 2007 at 11:10UT with fair seeing. Dust cloud coverage in the central regions looks to have increased from July 25th image. Pandorae Fretum looks more obscured. Jim Melka

Image recorded on July 25, 2007 at 11:02UT with very good seeing. SPC visible and extensive dust-cloud band over Hellespontus and Chalce. Noachis is dust covered. Sinus Meridiani mostly covered with an anomalous dark area west of it. West of that is a huge bright dust cloud covering parts of Margaritifer Sinus and extending a long way Northward. There is a bright circular dust cloud over Eos. Good seeing. Jim Melka

Image recorded on July 22, 2007 at 11:00UT with very good seeing. Large dust clouds now formed in Eastern Mare Erythraeum not definitely visible in July 21st image. Argyre impact basin now visible below SPC. Jim Melka	Image recorded on July 21, 2007 at 11:09UT with very good seeing; hope seeing improves for Opportunity. Part of the South Polar Cap is visible at the top. Some bright and some pale dust clouds visible over most of the planet. Good seeing.  Jim Melka

Image recorded on July 14, 2007 at 10:28UT. South polar cap barely visible at the top in fair seeing conditions. Solis Lacus, unless it is really a shadow of cloud in Daedalia, looks cutoff. The Olympus Mons area is dark.	Image recorded on July 8, 2007 at 11:03UT. A string of dust clouds on the upper left near Electris extending  to Thyle II. Two large 2-day-old clouds a bit above center and to the right in southern Mare Cimmerium and Hesperia. These two large clouds are prominently visible in the image below that may have coalesced from the four smaller clouds visible in the region in the July 6th image.  Good seeing, Jim Melka
Image recorded on July 7, 2007 at 10:56UT. The CM is within 4 degrees of the July 6th image allows direct comparison of dust clouds in Mare Sirenum and Cimmerium. Sirenum is still cloudy and clouds appear to have coalesced and moved westward on Cimmerium.  Jim Melka	Image recorded on July 6, 2007 at 10:22UT. SPC partially visible and NPH visible. Large cloud over Mare Sirenum, a cluster of small clouds in NW Sirenum. A chain of 5 clouds over Mare Cimmerium. Small  clouds scattered in higher latitudes in S. Hemisphere. Jim Melka
Image recorded on July 4, 2007 first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere at 11:22UT. Seeing was poor here with clouds. SPC not visible. Dust expanding from the south polar regions to the North covering southern parts of Mare Cimmerium and Mare Tyrrhenum. Good seeing.  Jim Melka	Image recorded on July 2, 2007 at 11:17UT. A cloud covers the SPC and extends Northward along the terminator to Eridania. Due to its whitish color possibly the cloud might consist of dust covered by ice. Hellas and Ausonia are dust covered, but Mare Hadriacum and Xanthus are visible.  Jim Melka
This image was recorded two days after my discovery image. It shows that the dust storm has spread further East across Iapygia Viridis, N. Hellas, and S. Mare Hadriacum. New dust cloud in Syrtis Major and another in Isidis Regio. Possible large cloud just East of SPC.   Good seeing, Jim Melka	First image of the 2007 apparition and lt shows a large dust storm in progress. I was the first amateur to  report  this storm that caused the Mars Section of the Oriental Astronomical Association (OAA), Japan to issue a ‘Dust Alert’ to everyone on their network.  A large band of dust extends from the upper right limb above the dark feature that looks like a tuning fork all the way to the center of the planet and ends at a circular dust cloud in Mare Serpentis. There is also a cloud in Northwestern Hellas. Jim Melka

        Does anyone know where 2007 went?  It’s 2008 and time to make resolutions for the new year. Besides eating right and getting more excercise I have made a few regarding astronomy.

        I resolve to do more observing for my self.  I mean observing, not peering into the finder.

        At one time I kept an observing diary, I lost that some where along the way and after reading some of my old entries I want to get back to doing that again. It was fun to relive some of my old sessions and my entries took me back to that moment in time and brought back more details than I ever realized possible.

       I try to go out prepared with a viewing list, I want to do better job of it in ‘08.

       As a club and as individuals we reach out to the public, especially to children. I resolve to make an effort to reach more adults. I developed interest in astronomy in several people last year and it has a rewarding side affect, you make a friend too.  It is very heart warming when they share their experiences with you. "Did you see the Moon pass Mars the other night?"   Oh yes, that’s what I’m talking about, a short time ago they didn’t know Mars was visible without a telescope, now they know where it is and that the cosmos moves.

     Happy 2008!  Things to look for this month:

     Jan  02  Earth closest to the Sun for the year.

     Jan  03-04  The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks. ( Quadrantid means the wall, may have been an old constellation, sorry I couldn’t find much information.)

     Jan 04   The waning crescent Moon forms a triangle with Venus and Antares in the morning sky.

     Jan 07-30  Mercury rises in the southwestern sky about 30 min after sunset. Best visibility Jan 19-26.

     Jan 08   New Moon.

     Jan 09  Crescent Moon is close to Mercury low in the sky after sunset.

     Jan 17-18 The Moon passes the Pleiades, around 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. our time.

     Jan 19  The Moon is close to Mars in the eastern sky at sunset.

     Jan 22  Full Moon.

     Jan 24  The Moon is close to Regulus at dawn.

     Jan 30  Last quarter Moon.  Mars halts retrograde motion and begins to move eastward.

     Jan 31  Venus a degree above and right of Jupiter in the morning sky.

Member Tom Richards completed observing all 110 Messier objects to qualify for the Astronomical League’s Messier Certificate and Pin.  Observing Chairperson Jim Twellman presented the certificate and pin at a ceremony during the regular club meeting on December 8, 2007.  Below Jim Twellman on left, Tom Richards on right.