Images of Mars

25 October 2005

Observing conditions were fairly good this night although probably slightly worse than late in the night three days earlier. Again I acquired lots of data (21 GB) and now have dozens of image stacks to process in the coming weeks. Like last time, I didn't use a Hartmann mask for focusing when I started imaging. However, about an hour into the observing session I used a Hartmann mask to refocus. This probably resulted in slight improvement although I still haven't conclusively confirmed this (I'm just starting to process this stuff).

25 October 2005 01:50 UTC. An image from late in the observing session this one is a stack of 607 images from a total of 3769. Processed using RegiStax and Photoshop.

22 October 2005

At last! The first good observing run this season. Not the first time the skies cleared but the first time it wasn't too windy, especially as time progressed. This allowed me to collect a huge amount of data (22 GB!!). The images were mainly of Mars but I acquired some images of the Moon and Saturn as well. To speed things up I didn't use a Hartmann mask for focusing. I don't know if this was a wise decision but I wanted to collect as much data as possible - last winter was absolutely horrible for imaging (I didn't acquire a single good image all winter) so there was a lot I wanted to do. Processed using RegiStax and Photoshop.


22 October 2005 01:43 UTC. This was one of the first image stacks so the air hadn't become as steady as later in the night. Still a significant amount of details is visible. This is a stack of 838 images from a total of 2738 images.

22 October 2005 04:32 UTC. Here the air had become significantly more stable than earlier in the night. As a consequence, the image quality has markedly improved. This is a stack of 518 images out of a total of 2304 images. Processed using RegiStax and Photoshop.