Mars Images — MarsWatch 2005
Monday, 01st of August 2005
Tuesday, 02nd of August 2005
Mars, Aug. 2, 2005 UD
CM 93.2 degrees, De -17.2 degrees, Ls 260.9 degrees
Phase defect .843, Size 11.4"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 400x with W23A red filter.
Hot, hazy, very humid, no breeze, slight thin stratus, no breeze. Solis
Lacus prominent, slightly elongated N-S with possibly Tithonius L. P on
terminator and Phoenicis L. suspected F. During moments of best seeing,
very faint, thin line suspected running SP from Solis Lacus. Aonius Sinus
with Sirenum F. Thaumasia bright. Tharsis & Arcadia bright. Bright SPC
with slight collar. Bright, thin F limb haze. In blue filter, F limb haze
thin in S, broadening in middle then expanding to cloudy area over much of
Tharsis and Arcadia near N limb.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Wednesday, 03rd of August 2005
Thursday, 04th of August 2005
Lots of rain in Phoenix the past few days, but the clouds parted last night
to give very humid conditions for these images. Image was fairly steady, but
individual still images still appeared a bit fuzzy. Seeing is funny that way.
Olympus Mons is showing well in these images as well as a touch of cloud over
another volcano (not sure of the name off hand). It shows well in Blue. I am
curious however, why it is showing so well in my images and not so much in
other amateur images from the past several days. Also the North Polar Hood
is showing well in the RGB image.
Dave Moore
Friday, 05th of August 2005
Date (UT): 5 August 2005 Time (UT): 02:42h
CM: 337° H: 44° Dec: 20° 21' 7"
De: -17° Ls: 263° φ: 11.6°
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/10 &150; f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 6 Trans.: (0-6) twilight
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Schott: OG 550 orange
Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 80a blue
W 81 yellow
W 85 'salmon'
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt (France)
Observing notes:
- The cap's edge of the NPC can be seen
- The Martian atmosphere is less transparent!
- ARGYRE is very bright! (1)
- SYRTIS MAJOR, SINUS SABAEUS and MARGARITIFER SINUS
appears faded
- The northern area is bright
- The NPH is shining bright (2)
Saturday, 06th of August 2005
Sunday, 07th of August 2005
Monday, 08th of August 2005
Tuesday, 09th of August 2005
Mars, Aug.9, 2005 UD
CM 22.1 degrees, De -16.0 degrees, Ls 265.3 degrees
Phase defect .846, Size 11.9"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 400x with W23A red filter.
Hot, hazy, humid, no breeze, occasional small passing cloud, lots of heat
lightning. Meridiani on terminator, Margaritifer, Aurorae and Erythraeum
prominent. Argyre somewhat bright S of Erythraeum, Sinai brighter on F limb
and Chryse very bright. Acidalia faint on N limb with Niliacus a bit darker
to S with slight separation between Acidalia & Niliacus. SPC small, roundish
and brilliant. Thin, bright morning limb haze a bit wider in middle with
slightly darker cloud or limb haze on N limb noted in W38A blue filter.
Tiny bright spot F SPC on SF limb noted only in W58 green filter.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Wednesday, 10th of August 2005
Date (UT): 10 August 2005 Time (UT): 02:28h
CM: 286° H: 44° Dec: 11° 13' 15"
De: -16° Ls: 266° φ: 12°
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/10 – f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 5 Trans.: (0-6) 3
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Schott: OG 550 orange
Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 80a blue
W 81 yellow
W 85 'salmon'
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt (France)
Observing notes:
-Bright DUST-SPOT near the SPC (1)
-Low contrast in the equatorial areas
-The cap’s edge can be seen
-White cloud is located above MOAB
Thursday, 11th of August 2005
Friday, 12th of August 2005
Saturday, 13th of August 2005
Date (UT): 13 August 2005 Time (UT): 03:28h
CM: 271° H: 51° Dec: 11° 43' 12"
De: -16° Ls: 268° φ: 12.3°
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/10 – f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 5-6 Trans.: (0-6) cloudy - twilight
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Schott: OG 550 orange
Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 80a blue
W 85 'salmon'
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt (France)
Observing notes:
-The cap’s edge is wide (SPC) and can be seen
-The southern area of HELLAS is whitish
-White cloud near AETERIA (1)
-Haze polar in the northern area (2)
Mars
10" F/9 with 4X barlow inserted into 2X barlow.
10:21- 10:23 UT August 13, 2005
Seeing 8-9/10
Atik 2hs B&W Camera, Registax, Photoshop.
Jim Phillips
Sunday, 14th of August 2005
Mars, Aug.14, 2005 UD
CM 334.8 degrees, De -15.2 degrees, Ls 268.5 degrees
Phase defect .850, Size 12.4"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 400x with W23A red filter.
Hot, clear, humid, no breeze, lots of dew & heat lightning. Iapygia at
terminator. Sabaeus & Meridiani darkest, most prominent features. Deucalionis
dull & dusky. Serpentis dark, Hellespontus less dark. Margaritifer & Oxus
at F limb. F portion of Hellas bright at terminator. Noachis near F limb,
Edom & Moab bright. Dusky area at N limb. Only SPC bright in W58 green
filter. Morning limb haze bright in W38A blue filter, otherwise clear. Dusky
area at N limb not bright in blue filter.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Monday, 15th of August 2005
Tuesday, 16th of August 2005
Wednesday, 17th of August 2005
Date (UT): 17 August 2005 Time (UT): 02:13h
CM: 215° H: 45° Dec: 12°19'58"
De: -15° Ls: 270° φ: 12.6°
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/10 – f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 7 Trans.: (0-6) 5 windy
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 81 yellow
W 80a blue
W 85 ‘salmon’
Schott: OG 550 orange
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt / France
Observing notes:
-The SPC is bright
-The cap’s edge is dark and wide
-White clouds is located above HELLAS (1)
-‘Polar haze’ is located above the northern area (2)
Thursday, 18th of August 2005
Seeing began good, but deteriorated rapidly. I omitted the last image set.
The NPH is showing good development.
I see some of our good Yahoo folks have stirred the pot again! I enclose
an image from last rotation on August 18,2005. It clearly shows hints of
the same phenomenon in the Mare Acidalium area and is not new to many of us.
Grafton and I have imaged this area's phenomena for several rotations and
the past several apparitions as well. Mare Acidalium's topography or something
appears to draw the Hood farther South in this region. The Hood always seems
brighter here too. The area has only shown hints of this however and has not
been near as visible to us till now. The striations in the Hood are most
curious.
I think that as Mars draws closer, each rotation is amazing all of us and
showing us more than we have ever seen before. We are getting the first
good glance of the North as the Martian declination declines and therefore
are getting a better insight of the Hood forming. For most of us we have
never had the technology to image like this before. It is not necessarily
anything new to Mars, but new to us!
As for dust, I still look for obscuration. We must be careful not to jump
to conclusions as image processing can cause artifacts and highlights simple
bright areas of Mars. We have already witnessed this several times this year.
My two cents worth.
Dave Moore
Mars, Aug.18, 2005 UD
CM 300.7 degrees, De -14.5 degrees, Ls 271.0 degrees
Phase defect .853, Size 12.7"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 400x with W23A red filter.
Hot, mostly clear, very humid, no breeze, lots of dew, almost full Moon.
Syrtis Major, Iapygia, Sabaeus are dominant dark regions. Syrtis Minor,
Serpentis & Meridiani (on F limb) also dark. Hellespontus & Mare Australe
less dark. Deucalionis dull & dusky. Protonilus (?) very faint at terminator
at N limb. Hellas, Libya, Moab & Arabia bright. Bright morning limb haze
wider at middle & NF plus bright area over Hellas noted in W38A blue filter.
Tiny bright spot immediately P SPC noted in W58 green filter.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Friday, 19th of August 2005
Saturday, 20th of August 2005
Sunday, 21st of August 2005
Mars, Aug.21, 2005 UD
CM 273.4 degrees, De -14.1 degrees, Ls 272.9 degrees
Phase defect .856, Size 13"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 400x with W23A red filter.
Hot, mostly clear, very humid, no breeze, lots of dew, Moon 2 days past
full. Syrtis Major dominant, central dark region. Syrtis Minor & Tyrrhenum
P Syrtis Major w/ Hesperia & W edge of Cimmerium on terminator. Sabaeus &
Serpentis very dark F Syrtis Major. Mare Australe slightly separated from
tiny SPC. Libya, Elysium, Hellas, Moab & Arabia very bright. Ausonia &
Deucalionis dusky. S tip of Utopia or Protonilus at terminator in N, also
very faint dusky spot suspected NF S tip of Syrtis Major. Bright morning
limb haze duller at N limb seen in W38A blue filter. Tiny bright spot
immediately P SPC noted in W58 green filter.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Monday, 22nd of August 2005
Tuesday, 23rd of August 2005
Seeing was fair at 4:48 EDT.
7" MN at f50, ToUcam pro, IR+RGB
Sean Walker
Methuen, MA
Wednesday, 24th of August 2005
Result of my Aug 24 observing session; very foggy air,with some clouds,seeing
fair with good moments. Remarkable was that the blue light image appeared more
stable,not as usually the IR image.
Olympus Mons, just into view,is the most interesting detail of the image, but
also a very thin dark polar collar around the SPC.
10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS camera IRGB and blue images taken at 0.13-0.12"/p
I had to decrease the focal length this time due to the poor transparency of
the fog.
Ralf Vandebergh
Thursday, 25th of August 2005
Friday, 26th of August 2005
Mars from August 26, 2005 18:51 UT, imaged from Nagoya, Japan.
Robert Heffner
Mars on 8-26, 9:24 UT.
7" @f/50, ToUcam Pro, IR+RGB
Sean Walker
Methuen, MA
Saturday, 27th of August 2005
Sunday, 28th of August 2005
Date (UT): 28 August 2005 Time (UT): 03:38h
CM: 131° H: 56° Dec: 13°50'15"
De: -13° Ls: 277° φ: 13.7"
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/10 – f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 5 Trans.: (0-6) moon !
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Schott: OG 550 orange
Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 81 yellow
W 85 salmon
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt / France
Observing notes:
-The SPC appears smaller than before
-MARE SIRENUM is normally dark
-Bright dust spot near TITHONIUS LACUS (1)
-Polar haze appears on the northern area (2)
-TRIVIUM CHARONTIS can hardly be seen
This morning I took some blue images of Mars showing good visibility of
the large Arsia orographic cloud. This animation shows its rotation from
02:16 UTC to 03:15 UTC (one hour difference) note its shape and especially
its shadow at the lefter side.
The seeing was better in the blue light then in the other wavelengths, which
is very strange.I have noted that already for a longer time.
10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS @ 0.08"/p f/62
Ralf Vandebergh
Here is the complete observing set of my Aug 28 observing session. Poor
seeing during the whole night,with high clouds, but just very good seeing in
the last minutes of darkness,after passing a field of clouds. In this minutes
I took these images. The first image is one in near infra-red and shows
especially Olympus Mons very well as a bulge.
The blue images below are those used for the animation of the cloud above Arsia.
10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS and Philips ToUcam PCVC750k f/48-f/62 0.08"/p-0.10"/p
Ralf Vandebergh
Additional Mars ToUcam color image of Aug 28, at04:05:33 UTC
The bulge of Olympus Mons is very obvious.
(10 inch Newton & ToUcam PCVC750k@ 0.10"/p f/48)
Ralf Vandebergh
Monday, 29th of August 2005
MARS IMAGES, AUGUST 29th, 2005
D. A. Peach. Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK.
14" (35cm) Celestron SCT @ f/39.5.
Lumenera LU075M CCD camera.
Seeing again initially fair (p4-5) later good (p6-8.)
Transparency excellent (5,5mag.)
No wind. Moderate dew.
Alt=44-52 degs.
MARS IMAGES, AUGUST 29th, 2005
D. A. Peach. Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK.
14" (35cm) Celestron SCT @ f/39.5.
Lumenera LU075M CCD camera.
Seeing again initially fair (p4-5) later good (p6-8.)
Transparency excellent (5,5mag.)
No wind. Moderate dew.
Alt=44-52 degs.
MARS IMAGES, AUGUST 29th, 2005
D. A. Peach. Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK.
14" (35cm) Celestron SCT @ f/39.5.
Lumenera LU075M CCD camera.
Seeing again initially fair (p4-5) later good (p6-8.)
Transparency excellent (5,5mag.)
No wind. Moderate dew.
Alt=44-52 degs.
Seeing quite variable this morning, but far better than the past few days.
I imaged Friday and Saturday and only could find 27 useable images out of
1200!! Hellas bright in the morning. South Pole hazes.
Dave Moore
This morning I took again some blue images with nearly 1 hour time
difference to show the Arsia Cloud moving. Also other interesting
structures and changes can be seen.
Times: 02:52:07-04:08:16 UTC
10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS f/62
Ralf Vandebergh
Attached is the complete observation-set of my Aug 29 session; Olympus
Mons shows incredible detail, with different ringstructures.
Again the 2 blue images of the animation are added below.
Ralf Vandebergh
Here is an especially natural image,later in my Aug 29 Mars observing
session. This might be the best image I took so far, concerning visual
impressions.
10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS with color filters f/62
Ralf Vandebergh
Tuesday, 30th of August 2005
Observer : Christian Woehler
Instrument : Orion TS 200/1200 mm Newton reflector
Camera : Philips ToUCam Pro CCD Webcam
Location : Heroldstatt, Germany
Date (UT) : August 30, 2005
Time (UT) : 03:33
CM (degrees) : 110.3°
Focal length : 4200 mm
Scale : 0.14"/pixel
Filter : RG 610
Stacked images: 4800; best 10% selected
Seeing : 4/10
Remarks : -
MARS IMAGES, AUGUST 30th, 2005
D. A. Peach. Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK.
14" (35cm) Celestron SCT @ f/39.5.
Lumenera LU075M CCD camera.
Seeing poor-fair (Pickering 3-5.)
Transparency excellent (5,5mag.)
No wind. Moderate dew.
Alt=49 degs.
Poorer seeing, but still much detail is visible. The Arsia cloud is much
fainter, and lacks it second "component" nearer the disk centre which only
seems to form when the volcano is approaching the terminator.
Olympus and Ascraeus Mons appear dark in Blue. Tithonius Lacus shows some
nuclei, and Solis Lacus shows several "canals" extending from its centre.
Also Phasis appears broken into small patches.
Date (UT): 30 August 2005 Time (UT): 02:27h
CM: 95° H: 51° Dec: 14°04'10"
De: -13° Ls: 279° φ:13.9"
Telescope Schmidt-Cassegrain 280 (f/25)
Seeing: (0-10 scale) 7-8 Trans.: (0-6) 4-5 moon
(10 = excellent)
Magnification: 330x / 350x
Filters: Schott: OG 550 orange
Wratten: W 64 blue/green
W 80a blue
W 85 salmon
Observer Station: Observer:
7° 18' (E) / 48° 01' (N) Teichert Gérard
Hattstatt / France
Observing notes:
-The SPC can be seen
-Low contrast in the southern areas
-ARGYRE (southern terminator) is normal bright (1)
-Equatorial white spot (ECB) in the XANTHE (2)
-Whit cloud is located above AMAZONIS (3)
-Arctic haze (NPH) persist (4)
Mars images on Aug 30, IRGB and blue light shots.Great moments of seeing made
it possible to resolve almost the whole martian disk in fine detail. The high
contrast blue light images show Olympus Mons as a dark spot and the white cloud
above Arsia obvious.
One word about the seeing circumstances: It was a great feeling to see finally
a sharp martian disk on the screen,after long periods of cloudy weather and
poor seeing,which is quite normal at this location.
Visual observations: At 1000x it was amazing to see very small but also very
sharp SPC,much smaller as most images does suggest...
Ralf Vandebergh
Attached is the blue light animation of the Aug 30 observations.
We see nicely the rotation of the Arsia orographic cloud as well as the
dark spot of Olympus Mons in almost exactly 1 hour time difference:
04:27 -- 05:26 UTC
10 inch Newton & ToUcam PCVC750k @f/62 0.08"/p Astronomik blue filter.
Ralf Vandebergh
On Aug 30 I took also some normal ToUcam images aside from the IRGB
monochrome ccd shots. The simple ToUcam images show even one of the
other Tharsis vulcanos near the terminator as a bulge in relief.
Also the orographic Arsia cloud can be seen well.
Ralf Vandebergh
Wednesday, 31st of August 2005
Mars, Aug.31, 2005 UD
CM175.2 degrees, De -12.6 degrees, Ls 279.1 degrees
Phase defect .869, Size 14"
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS at 462x with W23A red filter.
Hot, very humid, clear, no breeze, no Moon. Miniscule SPC less brilliant
than recent observations. Sirenum & Cimmerium darkest, most prominent albedo
features. Hesperia & P edge of Tyrrhenum at F limb. Phaethontis dusky,
Eridania brighter. Memnonia & Elysium brightest regions. Propontis barely
seen near N limb. NP Hood more easily seen in W80A blue than in W38A dark
blue filter. W38A filter showed very thin, evening limb haze and wider,
brighter morning limb haze. SPC brighter in W58 green filter than W38A filter.
Albedo features very difficult in W38A filter, but easy in W80A and W58.
Jay Albert
Lake Worth, FL
Mars on Aug 31, IRsGB and blue light image. Taken in poor seeing conditions
with some fair moments. Transparency was good though.
(10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS with color filters at f/60 pixel res: 0.08"/p ).
Ralf Vandebergh
Here is a set of near infra-red ToUcam images from Aug 31, in spite of the
reasonably poor seeing,the ToUcam images seemed well.
Note the very small Foelix near Solis Lacus. I have attached a part of
the Mario Frassati General Mars map.
Ralf Vandebergh
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