Mars

The Red Planet

Mars in 3D
Last night, just a couple days after the former successful imaging session, I got lucky enough (at least for my location on the equator, now in full rainy season) to have another clear night. I took the opportunity to image the red planet which in the meantime had rotated slightly comparing the former image and shown also a fairly noticeable change in the appearance of clouds, in particular around the ice cap. The seeing was a bit better than the previous session but still not the best I can hope from my site. As already explained in the past with similar posts I did of Jupiter and Saturn, also in this case it is possible to view Mars in 3D by looking at the panel while slightly crossing the eyes, perhaps with the help of finger held a short distance in front of the eyes and moving it until the two images in the background blend.. The diameter of the planet has now reached its maximum (17.2"), significantly lower than the previous opposition of 2020 but still bigger than the apparent size Mars will display in the next 10 years oppositions (we will have to wait until 2033 to see a greater diameter). The new image is the result of a single 2-minute take per channel, other data are in the panel.
Mars on November 28, 2022
This image of Mars was taken on the night of November 28, 2022 in average seeing conditions. Like the former image taken on the 26th, the darker little donut visible at the top left in this image is the Olympus mons, the largest and tallest known mountain and volcano in the Solar System, with a height of nearly 22 km (14 miles), about twice as high. and half the height of Everest above sea level. Under the Olympus mons lie the Tharsis Montes region, also a volcanic region containing 12 large volcanoes. To the left and below the center is the darker region of Valles Marineris, a canyon system that runs more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) along the Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. Valles Marineris is one of the largest canyons in the Solar System, surpassed in length only by the rift valleys of the Earth's mid-ocean ridge system. The oval shape of Mars is due to our perspective of observation with respect to Mars and the Sun. The next few weeks with the Red Planet approaching the opposition, it will take on a much more rounded shape. Newton Nauris 21" (535mm) f/3.8 + TV PM5x (@ f/19) on homemade horseshoe mount - 120" per channel - Drizzle 1.5x - Player One Saturn-M-SQR (IMX533M) - Singapore
Mars on November 26, 2022
This image of Mars was taken on the night of November 26, 2022 in average seeing conditions. At the date Mars was getting closer to the opposition expected by December 8 so at the time of this image was at "only" 82 million km away from Earth, a distance not so bigger than the minimum distance than the former image taken in September , still very far away from Earth (about 125 million km - 78 million miles at the date) and approaching its minimum distance from Earth on December 8th, the date of oppostion. The darker little donut visible at the top left in this image is the Olympus mons, the largest and tallest known mountain and volcano in the Solar System, with a height of nearly 22 km (14 miles), about twice as high. and half the height of Everest above sea level. Under the Olympus mons lie the Tharsis Montes region, also a volcanic region containing 12 large volcanoes. To the left and below the center is the darker region of Valles Marineris, a canyon system that runs more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) along the Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. Valles Marineris is one of the largest canyons in the Solar System, surpassed in length only by the rift valleys of the Earth's mid-ocean ridge system. The oval shape of Mars is due to our perspective of observation with respect to Mars and the Sun. The next few weeks with the Red Planet approaching the opposition, it will take on a much more rounded shape. Newton Nauris 21" (535mm) f/3.8 + TV PM5x (@ f/19) on homemade horseshoe mount - 4 videos of 60" per channel - Drizzle 1.5x - Player One Saturn-M-SQR (IMX533M) - Singapore

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