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Mars Collage 2020!

Discussion in 'Astrophotography and Imaging' started by Orion25, Oct 6, 2020.

Mars Collage 2020!

Started by Orion25 on Oct 6, 2020 at 7:07 PM

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  1. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Here is a collage of images I've taken of Mars from August through perigee. In terms of detail, this has been a much better apparition than 2018!

    [​IMG]

    Orion SkyView Pro 180 Mak, Orion 5MP StarShoot Solar System camera/Celestron 2x barlow; processed in Registax 6, Photoshop



    To the Red One,

    Reggie [​IMG]
     
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  2. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Oh, definitely better than 2018!

     
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  3. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    I got to see the perigee Mars from about 23:00 ~ 03:20 British Summer Time. Seeing could have been better but I got 300x about an hour after transit. Syrtis Major looked huge!
     
  4. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Syrtis Major is on "major" display this perigee, almost as if Mars is making up for 2018, lol. Once I got my image data, I used several different filters to observe. I found that my #82 lt. blue made the pole cap more prominent; dark features stood out nicely, too. It was almost like looking at Mars in black and white, drawing more attention to form than color. The #11 yellow-green seemed to enhance overall detail. The Orion mars filter (probably a #30) enhanced overall contrast but the strong magenta cast is a little distracting to me. The variable polarizing filter is good for cutting down overall glare and helps to see overall detail (it will be definitely in use for opposition next week).
     
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  5. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    I found the pole harder to see at perigee, although that could have been the seeing which was compromised with excess humidity (it had rained all bloody day!). I started off with the Baader Orange 570nm Longpass at 257x. I find this the best for recognising darker albedo features. Once I was happy that I knew what I was looking at I changed to a Sirius Optics CE-1. Both of these deal with the glare well. The CE-1 is a yellow interference filter and a bit sui generis.

    iXFEi9n.jpg
    Top left: Baader Semi Apo, Baader Orange Longpass, TV Bandmate, Baader Contrast Booster.

    Top right: Baader ND 0.9, Baader Neodymium, Baader Single Polariser.

    Bottom left: Sirius Optics CE-1,

    Bottom right: Baader Double Polariser.

    Actually it was Dave (from Vermont) who put me onto the CE-1. Sirius Optics has disappeared now. A bit like Dave. I then used a Baader Contrast Booster but it needed the 'triple stack' of a double polariser. I spent the most time with the stack I think. Although I dropped down to 200x at one stage. About an hour after transit the seeing improved slightly. I ended on the TV Bandmate at 300x. Next time I'll take the Baader Blue for the pole.

    Stay safe.

     
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