Mars F25 June 21, 2016, 03:20 UT Dia. 17.3"
Scope: Celestron 14" XLT, F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI174MM, Chroma Tech RGB filters, Mount: Celestron CGE Pro. Exposures: 240 sec of data each channel 55% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing average 5/10 (Mars altitude only 35 deg.), Temp. ~85 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (20% frame selection), Registax wavelet processing, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 June 10, 2016, 03:55 UT Dia. 18.2"
Scope: Celestron 14" XLT, F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI174MM, Chroma Tech RGB filters, Mount: Celestron CGE Pro. Exposures: 240 sec of data each channel 55% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing good 6/10 (Mars altitude only 35 deg.), Temp. ~80 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (20% frame selection), Registax wavelet processing, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 June 6, 2016, 03:57 UT Dia. 18.4"
Scope: Celestron 14" XLT, F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI174MM, Astronomik 742 ProPlanet IR filter, Mount: Celestron CGE Pro. Exposures: 240 sec of data with IR filler 70% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing poor 4/10 (Mars altitude only 35 deg.), Temp. ~76 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (10% frame selection), Registax wavelet processing, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version. |
Mars F25 May 21, 2016, 05:35 UT Dia. 18.3"
Scope: Celestron 14" XLT, F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI174MM, Astronomik 742 ProPlanet IR filter, Mount: Celestron CGE Pro. Exposures: 240 sec of data with IR filler 50% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing poor 4/10 (Mars altitude only 35 deg.), Temp. ~76 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (5% frame selection), Registax wavelet processing, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 June 7, 2014, 2:34 UT Dia. 11.3"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. The Red Channel was captured at ~160 fps resulting in ~30K frames per 180 sec capture. The Exposures: 180 sec of data ea. channel at 80% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing good 6/10, Temp. ~80 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (30% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments.
Mars F25 June 5, 2014, 2:21 UT Dia. 11.4"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. The Red Channel was captured at ~160 fps resulting in ~30K frames per 180 sec capture. The Exposures: 180 sec of data ea. channel at 70% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing good 6/10, Temp. ~80 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (30% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments.
Mars F25 May 21, 2014, 2:26 UT Dia. 12.8"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. The image is composed of 2 RGB data sets over a 30 min. period. The Red Channel was captured at ~160 fps resulting in ~30K frames per 180 sec capture. The Exposures: 180 sec of data ea. channel at 80% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing good 6/10, Temp. ~75 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (10% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 May 3, 2014, 4:12 UT Dia. 14.4"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. The Lum (Red) channel is composed of 3 Red data sets over a 30 min. period. The Red Channel was captured at ~200 fps resulting in ~35K frames per 180 sec capture. The Green and Blue channels were composed of the single best 3 min. capture video. Exposures: 180 sec of data ea. channel at 70% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing good 6/10, Temp. ~60 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (10% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 April 23 2014, 5:01 UT Dia. 15.0"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. This image is composed of 3 RGB data sets over a 25 min. period. Exposures: 120 sec of data ea. channel at 60% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing very good 7/10, Temp. ~60 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (20% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 April 16, 2014, 4:44 UT Dia. 15.2"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. Exposures: 120 sec of data ea. channel at 60% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing average 5/10, Temp. ~50 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (30% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F25 April 9, 2014, 6:15 UT Dia. 15.1"
Scope: LX200GPS 12" F25, Optical Attachments: 2.5x TeleVue PowerMate, Camera: ASI120MM, Astronomik Type 2 RGB filters, Mount: LX200, Super Field Tripod, Super Wedge. Exposures: 120 sec of data ea. channel at 60% histogram. Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Seeing average 5/10, Temp. ~50 deg. F, Acquisition SW: FireCapture, Processing: Autostakkert 2 align stack (35% selection), Registax wavelet processing, WinJupos Derotate, RGB combine, Photoshop/Topaz final adjustments. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Mars F30 June 24, 2012, 2:15 UT Dia. 6.8” CM 321
This image was taken under good seeing conditions (7/10). The image is composed of the best 3,600 of 12,700 frames. L, R, and G frames were collected at 30fps. B frames were collected at 15fps. A 742 IR pass filter was utilized for the Luminance data. This image was made with a 12” LX200GPS, Astronomik 2c LRGB filters. TeleVue 3x Barlow, and Flea3 camera. Data collection and processing was done with Astro IIDC Mac software and Photoshop.
Mars F30 02:48 UT April 24, 2012 CM 191.5 Dia. 10.5”8 UT April 24, 2012 CM 191.5 Dia. 10.5”
This image was taken under good seeing conditions (6/10). The image is composed of the best 5,600 of 20,000 frames. The L, R and G frames were collected at 60fps. The B frames were collected at 30fps. This image was made with a 12” LX200GPS, Astronomik 2c LRGB filters. TeleVue 3x Barlow, and Flea3 camera. Data collection and processing was done with Astro IIDC Mac software and Photoshop. The image was resized 2x during processing.
Mars F30 04:04 UT April 22, 2012 CM 228 Dia. 10.7”
This image was taken under good seeing conditions (6/10). The image is composed of the best 5,600 of 20,000 frames. The L, R and G frames were collected at 60fps. The B frames were collected at 30fps. This image was made with a 12” LX200GPS, Astronomik 2c LRGB filters. TeleVue 3x Barlow, and Flea3 camera. Data collection and processing was done with Astro IIDC Mac software and Photoshop. The image was resized 2x during processing.
Mars F30 - 03:34 UT April 11, 2012 CM 322 deg. Dia. 11.66”
I very much wanted to get a shot of Mars while this face was visible. The CSC had forecast clear skies and average seeing, however, as evening approached there was considerable cloud cover. I decided to setup anyway and was fortunate to get a few image sets through brief clear spots. The seeing was fair to good (6/10). I continue to be amazed with the Flea3’s ability to pull an image out of pretty average conditions. This image was made with a 12” LX200GPS, Astronomik 2c LRGB filters. TeleVue 3x Barlow, and Flea3 camera. Data collection and processing was done with Astro IIDC Mac software and Photoshop. The image was resized 2x during processing.
Mars 08/29/03 06:60 UT, CM 56, Dia. 25.1", Seeing Excellent
Scope: LX200 12" F50, Optical Attachments: 5x TeleVue Barlow, Camera: Philips ToUcam Pro, Mogg Adapter, Mount: LX200GPS, Super Field Tripod. Super Wedge
Exposures: 1/25 sec, 2400 frames @ 10 FPS for 4 min. 320x240, Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Temp. ~72 deg.F, Processing: IRIS: align, stack, wavelet processing, Photoshop: unsharp mask, bright/contrast
Comment: This image won 4th place in the 2003 OPT Mars imaging contest.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Myself and several other imagers captured the small dark spot on the right limb of Mars on this particular night. Normally there is no dark feature at this location. I sent inquires to the Mars Global Surveyor imaging team about what the feature might be. I received a response that it might be the shadow of a cloud formation on the top of Arisa Mons. Later I ran across the images linked to below.
Speculation: This dust shadow may be related to the spiral-shaped dust storm observed in the Mars Global Surveyor image here.
Exposures: 1/25 sec, 2400 frames @ 10 FPS for 4 min. 320x240, Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Temp. ~72 deg.F, Processing: IRIS: align, stack, wavelet processing, Photoshop: unsharp mask, bright/contrast
Comment: This image won 4th place in the 2003 OPT Mars imaging contest.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Myself and several other imagers captured the small dark spot on the right limb of Mars on this particular night. Normally there is no dark feature at this location. I sent inquires to the Mars Global Surveyor imaging team about what the feature might be. I received a response that it might be the shadow of a cloud formation on the top of Arisa Mons. Later I ran across the images linked to below.
Speculation: This dust shadow may be related to the spiral-shaped dust storm observed in the Mars Global Surveyor image here.
Mars 08/23/03 07:00 UT, CM 116, Dia. 25", Seeing Excellent
Scope: LX200 12" F50, Optical Attachments: 5x TeleVue Barlow, Camera: Philips ToUcam Pro, Mogg Adapter, Mount: LX200GPS, Super Field Tripod. Super Wedge
Exposures: 1/25 sec, 2400 frames @ 10 FPS for 4 min. 320x240, Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Temp. ~72 deg.F, Processing: IRIS: align, stack, wavelet processing, Photoshop: unsharp mask, bright/contrast.
Click on the image to see a larger version
Exposures: 1/25 sec, 2400 frames @ 10 FPS for 4 min. 320x240, Location: Driveway, Dallas, Tx. USA, Conditions: Temp. ~72 deg.F, Processing: IRIS: align, stack, wavelet processing, Photoshop: unsharp mask, bright/contrast.
Click on the image to see a larger version
Mars 08/23/03 compared to Hubble image at the same scale
The Hubble Space Telescope imaged Mars at the peak of the Opposition. Numerous amateur imagers, myself included, were inspired to compare their images with those produced by the Hubble. It was very rewarding to see so many details confirmed in the Hubble's images.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Click on the image to see a larger version.