Mars Images — MarsWatch 2005

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  

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