Mars

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 3:03 pm

Taken 28th Dec 09, 2.25 AM.
Meade 10'' sct, philips scp900 webcam, registax.

Polar caps and main features visible.
Slight hint of clouds (bluish tint) in the atmosphere.
Seeing stared off good but thick fog shut me down by 3am.

http://www.frankryanjr.com/mars.htm

John O'Mahony · Post by **John O'Mahony** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 4:19 pm

Nice shot Frank. What is the angular diameter of Mars in this shot? Did you use a barlow?

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 6:55 pm

Thanks John.
Mars is at 12.3 arc sec at the mo.
by 22nd of Jan it will get to 14.1

I used a 2x barlow.

BTW - Lads - Someone has my Barlow,
the one in my bag is not mine.
It says - Meade 2x 'air spaced' on it.
Mine is apochromatic, like this:

Can ye double check yer gear and see do ye have it?

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 8:15 pm

Nice shot Frank,
What barlow do you have??, I have one which is the one in the pic above? so I dont think I have one from you..

Simon Kenny · Post by **Simon Kenny** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:54 pm

Nice shot Frank. Had a look and haven't your got apochromatic.

Simon

Rachel Clancy · Post by **Rachel Clancy** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:21 pm

Great picture, well done! Mars is beautiful at the moment, if only the damn weather would clear up!!!

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:29 pm

Dave Lillis wrote:Nice shot Frank,
What Barlow do you have??, I have one which is the one in the pic above? so I don't think I have one from you..

Thanks Dave,
my Barlow is the one that's in the pic. (apochromatic)
The one in my bag which is not mine says 'air spaced' on it.

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:53 am

The one I have here says "air spaced" aswell.
The one in the pic above is a "meade 2x telenegative amplifier, air spaced triplet"
Mine is the one in the pic you have above, can you find a pic of the one you have in your bag ?

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:17 am

Ya, I'll have a look.
Thanks for checking.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:13 pm

The advantages of having a teething 7 month old that
really does not sleep means you can be out
at twenty to four in the morning on new years day
imaging Mars with the baby intercom at your side.
The disadvantages are that your brain becomes
the same consistency as mushy peas.
Either way it's all good.

These shots are all processed on a laptop screen
(breaking my golden rule) but I am just too tired to care.
Hopefully it doesn't look gammy.

Good bit of detail,
the seeing was quite respectable.
I used a different barlow this time which
resulted in a smaller image on the chip that
I suspected but didn't fully notice until this morning.
I have a 5x barlow but it's useless.
The images are always too dim.
Are there any suggestions
(short of buying a C14)
that would help in gaining a larger image?