MARS

   Mars reached opposition on October 13th and is well placed in the late evening sky. This apparition is in fact the best for northern hemisphere observers for some time so it was about time I took a look. On October 26th at 20:05 UT using the 8" SCT at X150 it was immediately apparent the atmospheric seeing conditions were very poor. I could just about make out the small South Polar Cap and some dusky markings across the centre of the disc.

 On October 28th I decided to try imaging Mars with my Phillips webcam which I hadn't used for a very long time. Planetary imaging cameras have improved a lot since webcams were a popular choice but I am not ready for another new camera --yet!  I used the 8"SCT at f30 and tried Sharpcap imaging software for the first time. The quivering disc of the planet was soon located on the webcams small chip and after the usual struggle to focus the image I was ready to go. With the seeing poor again I only recorded about 400 frames of video file and packed the equipment away. Next day I processed the video file in Registax using the "best" 140 frames of the 400 which resulted in the image shown. Well I am pleased with my first attempt at planetary imaging for a long time even if it doesn't compare to what can be achieved these days. I am certainly going to continue imaging Mars this apparition and maybe some of the other planets to.

  For comparison I have downloaded a computer generated image of Mars disc for the same date and time.