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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Chit Chat _ Observing Mars

Posted by: djellison Sep 23 2005, 08:52 AM

At some point - i'll take a picture of my telescope doing it's thing with Mars - it defines the phrase Heath Robinson.

Anway - using my Powershot S2IS yesterday...

then my very bad, un-collamated, wobbly, dented, occasionally rusty, dusty 4" reflector, on a dodgy tripod with no fine controls, wobbly paving and a webcam blue-tacked onto the focus assembley...

Might not look like much - but it's the very first time, in more than 15 years of occasional observing that I've seen features on mars with my own eyes

Doug

Posted by: dvandorn Sep 23 2005, 09:00 AM

Not bad, Doug! Looks like you can see an ice cap (the southern, I'd guess) at about the eleven o'clock position , near the limb. If that's the case, then the dark splotch might well be Syrtis Major.

-the other Doug

Posted by: djellison Sep 23 2005, 09:32 AM

I'm going to try a few more techniques, then pressgang a friend of mine for a trip to use the 16" reflector at the Uni of Leicester

Doug

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Sep 23 2005, 09:52 AM

Not bad to start with!
You just need to colimate your telescope and wait for a very stable night.
The images will only get better!

Posted by: djellison Sep 23 2005, 11:26 AM

Just re-processed.

Took the avi - output as sequential stills - photoshop action to crop, enlarge 400% and unsharp mask, then stacked the results - S.M. much more obvious now

Posted by: djellison Sep 23 2005, 11:27 AM

My neigbours have a really bad cheap refractor with a barlow - I may try that instead tonight

Doug

Posted by: odave Sep 23 2005, 11:39 AM

Now, now - the best telescope is one that gets used.

Your cheap little reflector that you got those images with beats the pants off of a bigger, more expensive scope that sits in a shed collecting dust instead of photons

Posted by: Bill Harris Sep 23 2005, 12:30 PM

This is the power of digital imaging. Even using an old small telescope and a cheap digital camera, this image equals or exceeds the photos of Mars taken with much larger telescopes on film a decade or two ago.

--Bill

Posted by: um3k Sep 23 2005, 03:50 PM

I spy the Pleiades!

Posted by: PhilCo126 Oct 28 2005, 09:18 AM

I'm using a large refraktor ( 152 mm Diameter with 1200 mm Focal Length ) and at 300X I could easliy see the dust-storm in the Southern hemisphere of the planet Mars on 26th October 2005 ... the hemisphere was completely orange while I could see some 'details' in the other half of the planet.
Let's hope for clear skies and mild nights on 30th October ( Mars closest ) and on 7th November ( Mars in opposition ).
Best regards,
Philip

Posted by: djellison Oct 28 2005, 09:21 AM

Hopefully, I may be at the eyepiece of something more powerfull after a talk next Thursday

Doug

Posted by: PhilCo126 Feb 4 2006, 06:14 PM

Well as Mars is moving away from us... Saturn is a nice target for backyard telescopes

Posted by: djellison Feb 4 2006, 06:17 PM

Indeed it is - the moment the clouds bugger off, I want to grab something of it - and Jupiter.

Doug