129 replies to this topic

[Cpk133]

Got my first morning observation today.  Seeing was really bad here but was able to make out a dancing orange orb with a hint of a polar cap with the 80ed.  It’s currently about 5” in diameter so big enough to make some good observations with more aperture and much better seeing.  Looking forward to some morning planetary sessions this summer.

Edited by Cpk133, 30 May 2024 - 12:34 PM.

[CHASLX200]

I gave it a shot last week and it was a red and blue tiny boiling disk.

Edited by CHASLX200, 30 May 2024 - 06:59 PM.

[PKDfan]

Waiting
Waiting
Patiently awaiting wintertime



Smaller this time but still the god of war.



Clear Skies

[CHASLX200]

Waiting
Waiting
Patiently awaiting wintertime



Smaller this time but still the god of war.



Clear Skies

Gonna be a while.

[PKDfan]

Gonna be a while.

Yup !

Twiddling thumbs time.



Cs

[Cpk133]

Yup !

Twiddling thumbs time.



Cs

With excellent seeing conditions, 5” is enough to give up some decent views around 300x and above.  Will be a good challenge.

[RMay]

Here’s a look… this is a single frame, single image pulled from a brief video of the lunar occultation of Mars taken on Dec 7, 2022.  iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar Seven.

 

Ron

Attached Thumbnails

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[MrsM75]

Here’s a look… this is a single frame, single image pulled from a brief video of the lunar occultation of Mars taken on Dec 7, 2022.  iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar Seven.

 

Ron

Sir RMay that is an awesome pic you got there.

 

I have a question though, dumb question actually. 

This is a pic of Earth Mars Moon in size by diameter.

 

Cleary Mars is bigger than our Moon here, BUT how come it so tiny in the occultation? I'm guess it because Mars is so far away in distance from us compared to our own Moon?

 

[PXR-5]

Here’s a look… this is a single frame, single image pulled from a brief video of the lunar occultation of Mars taken on Dec 7, 2022. iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar Seven.

Ron

Very nice capture Ron!

[RMay]

Thank you all for the kind words. If you’d like to see the video, you can take a look at it here…

https://youtube.com/...FGGZN-cXDxfeq9W

Mars is 140 million miles away, so it’s pretty small. That image also represents the best picture I have taken to date of our red neighbor.

Ron

[CHASLX200]

Sir RMay that is an awesome pic you got there.

 

I have a question though, dumb question actually. 

This is a pic of Earth Mars Moon in size by diameter.

 

Cleary Mars is bigger than our Moon here, BUT how come it so tiny in the occultation? I'm guess it because Mars is so far away in distance from us compared to our own Moon?

 

Love to swap the moon for Mars for a week.

[Jeff B1]

Sir RMay that is an awesome pic you got there.

 

I have a question though, dumb question actually. 

This is a pic of Earth Mars Moon in size by diameter.

 

Cleary Mars is bigger than our Moon here, BUT how come it so tiny in the occultation? I'm guess it because Mars is so far away in distance from us compared to our own Moon?

 

The nomenclatures of Solar System objects can become confusing.  We refer to the "size" in telescope as apparent diameter, or size. During closest approach between Earth and Mars the Red Planet will appear optically at around 25 seconds of arc.  The Moon, being much closer, will of course appear larger.

 

Maybe my web site will help:  https://alpo-astrono...rving_Mars.html

Edited by Jeff B1, 04 June 2024 - 08:35 AM.

[Cpk133]

Here’s a look… this is a single frame, single image pulled from a brief video of the lunar occultation of Mars taken on Dec 7, 2022.  iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar Seven.

 

Ron

By comparison, Mars was 17 arc seconds during this event, about 3x larger than its apparent size today.  Of course, it was cloudy in MI and I missed this glorious occultation.  Did you post the full video anywhere?  

[RMay]

Did you post the full video anywhere?

Hi, it’s noted in my post above. I was actually surprised at the details visible and how large and beautiful it was when I imaged it.


Ron

Edited by RMay, 04 June 2024 - 12:41 PM.

[Special Ed]

Hi, it’s noted in my post above. I was actually surprised at the details visible and how large and beautiful it was when I imaged it.


Ron

Ron, that is a really nice shot of Mars and Luna.     You must have very good seeing where you are to get that kind of detail out of a single image.

 

With excellent seeing conditions, 5” is enough to give up some decent views around 300x and above.  Will be a good challenge.

I agree--and it is a good idea to start observing Mars as early as possible in order to train the eye.  I made this sketch in April of 2023 near the end of the last apparition.  Mars was 5.5" in angular diameter.  Seeing was good--7-8 Pickering--and I was able to push 488x.  But the takeaway is, I had been observing Mars at every opportunity since March of 2022 when Mars was 5" of angular diameter.  I will post that sketch, too.  My observing skills were not sharp, the seeing was not as good and Mars was at a lower altitude, but I could see some detail.  I had the advantage of the calmer air of early morning twilight for this observation.

 

Final sketch of the last apparition:

 

 

First sketch of the last apparition:

 

[RMay]

Ron, that is a really nice shot of Mars and Luna. You must have very good seeing where you are to get that kind of detail out of a single image.

Thank you for the kind words. We are under Bortle 5 skies and the seeing that night was quite good, with relatively nice, transparent skies, despite the video/image being taken from my side yard.

My Questar Seven (which was set up, aligned and tracking that night) is a great planetary scope, and that helped, for sure...

Ron

[Jeff B1]

Yea, Ed, nice Mars observations, for a change and not photos.

[Special Ed]

Thanks, Jeff.  I've learned a lot from you over the past 20 years.  And I always consult the overview (that you linked to above) that you post for every apparition.  

[deSitter]

Here’s a look… this is a single frame, single image pulled from a brief video of the lunar occultation of Mars taken on Dec 7, 2022.  iPhone 12 Pro to the 16mm eyepiece of my Questar Seven.

 

Ron

KICKING myself STILL for forgetting about this unforgettable event. Nice pic!

 

-drl

[RMay]

KICKING myself STILL for forgetting about this unforgettable event. Nice pic!

-drl

There’ll be others… one more unique aspect of our hobby is that the universe is filled with these wonderful ‘capture moments.’

And thank you for the kind words…

👍👍👍

Ron

[Cpk133]

Happy Independence day fellow Americans.  Finally got the C9 out for some Mars this morning.  Seeing wasn’t perfect but still enough to make 500x very useable.  Gibbous Mars was a little washed out due to some haze and the fact that I was viewing between 8:30 and 9:30 am.  I could easily see Mare Cimmerium so no massive planet wide dust storms, maybe they only happen when theres a perfect opposition like in 2018.  I didn’t observe any limb haze and only what appeared to be a really small inconspicuous S ice cap.
 

I forgot to mark my tripod legs so I can easily go-to.  I was having a hard time spotting Mars in the finder and got lucky that it was in the field of view of my 24mm and I was close to being focused.  Pro tip, make sure to end your viewing session with a wide field eyepiece IN FOCUS for those of us with SCT’s / Maks where focus is ambiguous.  This makes finding planets in daylight a lot easier the next session.  I make a note of out-focus position for my 80mm refractor.  

[Josephus Miller]

I set my alarm clock for 4:30 this morning so I could get out and have a look at Jupiter and Mars rising in the east.  The garage where my C8 spent the night was still warmer than I had hoped so it took a little while for the scope to equilibrate and tube currents to settle down. On the other hand, the seeing was phenomenal. Actually, according to Astrospheric, it was only "above average," but I'm still getting used to my new high desert situation. After the swamp of the Mid-Atlantic, everything is an improvement!

 

Once everything fell into place, I was surprised at how much detail I could see on Mars, despite a 6" disk. It showed a slight but distinct gibbosity, which agrees with the 89% illumination reported by the S&T Mars Profiler etc. This gave the planet an interesting billiard ball look--clearly a sphere, not just a disk. 

 

The real treat was that I distinctly observed a dark patch near the eastern limb. I made a crude sketch:

 

Comparing to this:

 

It's a little hard to tell because of the way the flat projection distorts the features, but I think I either saw Syrtis Major coming around, or else the Mare Cimmerium. Either way, my first Martian surface feature of the opposition!

 

 

 

 

 

[Cpk133]

I set my alarm clock for 4:30 this morning so I could get out and have a look at Jupiter and Mars rising in the east.  The garage where my C8 spent the night was still warmer than I had hoped so it took a little while for the scope to equilibrate and tube currents to settle down. On the other hand, the seeing was phenomenal. Actually, according to Astrospheric, it was only "above average," but I'm still getting used to my new high desert situation. After the swamp of the Mid-Atlantic, everything is an improvement!

 

Once everything fell into place, I was surprised at how much detail I could see on Mars, despite a 6" disk. It showed a slight but distinct gibbosity, which agrees with the 89% illumination reported by the S&T Mars Profiler etc. This gave the planet an interesting billiard ball look--clearly a sphere, not just a disk. 

 

The real treat was that I distinctly observed a dark patch near the eastern limb. I made a crude sketch:

IMG_4798.jpg

 

Comparing to this:

Screen Shot 2024-08-07 at 6.40.00 AM.png

 

It's a little hard to tell because of the way the flat projection distorts the features, but I think I either saw Syrtis Major coming around, or else the Mare Cimmerium. Either way, my first Martian surface feature of the opposition!

I’ve been using that S&T Mars profiler combined with the Mars Globe app to get my orientation.  I find it tough to navigate Mars unless the most conspicuous features are visible.  I don’t know if it’s the moving dust or changing light conditions but I find the visual and even the best planetary images difficult to match up with established maps.  Mars like Jupiter is ever changing and full of transient phenomenon that makes every observation beautiful and unique.  

[Special Ed]

Josephus,

 

This is the WinJUPOS simulation for the date, time, and orientation of your observation and sketch.  Keep sketching--that's how you will see more on Mars.  

 

[Josephus Miller]

I’ve been using that S&T Mars profiler combined with the Mars Globe app to get my orientation. [...]

 

The Mars Profiler is handy, but thanks for the tip on Mars Globe. I use the Moon Globe app fairly often, so it's good to know that the Mars counterpart is useful, too. I'll have to download it. 

 

Special Ed--thanks for the encouragement! That simulated rendering is a dead ringer for what I saw, minus some detail naturally. Thanks for posting. Thanks also for the encouragement! I'm looking forward to watching Mars grow over the next several months and will continue to share.