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Mars near opposition

Howard Ritter
 

Thanks, Dan! I was pleasantly surprised myself. I took care with DeNoise to make sure it generated no artefactual detail. I’m quite excited about what I might be able to get if we ever get a quiet atmosphere before opposition falls far behind us.

Good seeing,
—howard

On Nov 23, 2022, at 1:21 AM, Dan_Paris <danysra@...> wrote:

Impressive level of detail Howard!

clear skies,

Dan

Dan_Paris
 

Impressive level of detail Howard!

clear skies,

Dan
Stuart
 

Howard, that is an outstanding image especially when you're new'ish to this. Nice work!


On Tue, 22 Nov 2022 at 12:05, Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hey Lowbrows and Astronuts—

Just to show what can be accomplished by a newbie with rudimentary imaging skills, 6” of top-quality apo aperture, unassisted manual focus and seeing that’s sub-par even for the Midwest, here’s my first-ever effort at imaging Mars. Best 5000 of 10000 7-ms exposures at 142 fps with ASI2600MC, stacked in Autostakkert!, wavelet-processed in Registax, and touched up in Photoshop and DeNoise with final touches by son Phil.

I wonder if the white overlapping the dark shapes at the edge of the cap is a haze coming off the cap.

For comparison, a Hubble image with almost the same central meridian (it’s the one on the right).

—howard
Howard Ritter
 

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! I’m a little surprised by the reception that the image from my li’l’ ol’ 6” of aperture got.

I DID say that it’s the RIGHT-hand (or bottom) image that was the one from Hubble, right? 🤣

The refractor is an Astro-Physics 155EDF, an f/7 with FL 1085mm. I’m using a Tele Vue 4x PowerMate, so EFL 4340mm. The camera is an ASI22600MC, with 3.76µm photosites. The plate scale is 0.”18 per pixel or 47arcsec/mm. The scale far exceeds the 0.”8 resolution of the optics and the 2” or so seeing, but still, presented on-screen at a comfortable size, the pixelation is obvious – fewer than 90 Px across the diameter of Mars. This is difficult to get rid of even with up-resing in Photoshop. A planetary camera with photosites half the size of mine would be a good start for a 4000mm EFL. Better yet, a 14” f/10 OTA with a 4x PowerMate. That’s Christopher Go/Damian Peach gear!

—howard

On Nov 22, 2022, at 2:27 PM, Worsel via groups.io <bryancashion@...> wrote:

Howard

Excellent image!

What image scale were these?  Alternatively, what is the focal length of your apo?

Bryan

Worsel
 

Howard

Excellent image!

What image scale were these?  Alternatively, what is the focal length of your apo?

Bryan
Harley Davidson
 

You sure you didn't lie to us about this being your first attempt :)  Very nice!

tony

On 11/22/2022 12:04 PM, Howard Ritter via groups.io wrote:
Hey Lowbrows and Astronuts—

Just to show what can be accomplished by a newbie with rudimentary imaging skills, 6” of top-quality apo aperture, unassisted manual focus and seeing that’s sub-par even for the Midwest, here’s my first-ever effort at imaging Mars. Best 5000 of 10000 7-ms exposures at 142 fps with ASI2600MC, stacked in Autostakkert!, wavelet-processed in Registax, and touched up in Photoshop and DeNoise with final touches by son Phil.

I wonder if the white overlapping the dark shapes at the edge of the cap is a haze coming off the cap.

For comparison, a Hubble image with almost the same central meridian (it’s the one on the right).

—howard
Howard Ritter
 

Hey Lowbrows and Astronuts—

Just to show what can be accomplished by a newbie with rudimentary imaging skills, 6” of top-quality apo aperture, unassisted manual focus and seeing that’s sub-par even for the Midwest, here’s my first-ever effort at imaging Mars. Best 5000 of 10000 7-ms exposures at 142 fps with ASI2600MC, stacked in Autostakkert!, wavelet-processed in Registax, and touched up in Photoshop and DeNoise with final touches by son Phil.

I wonder if the white overlapping the dark shapes at the edge of the cap is a haze coming off the cap.

For comparison, a Hubble image with almost the same central meridian (it’s the one on the right).

—howard
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