Mars Images — MarsWatch 2005
Saturday, 01st of October 2005
Ramiro Hernández Banda , Saltillo, Mx
8" SC Celestron telescope, eyepiece projection UV/IR cut off filter
Clouds on the limb and over the North pole, dark feature over splendorous
Syrtis Majeur, bright Hellas,
10:01 Longitude of the central meridien = 267.0, Diameter in arcsec = 17.9
Phase = 0.933
Sunday, 02nd of October 2005
Monday, 03rd of October 2005
Tuesday, 04th of October 2005
Mars in wildly variable seeing conditions with focusing difficult; the strong
blue northern polar haze is seen well in these three images covering a two
hour period. There appears to be somewhat of an abrupt cessation of the haze
beginning at about longitude 240 as suggested in the last (09:20 UT) image. A
delineated, south-reaching segment of the polar haze seems to be evident in
the Aetheria region.
Dr. P. Clay Sherrod
Arkansas Sky Observatories
Wednesday, 05th of October 2005
MARS IMAGES, OCTOBER 5th, 2005.
D. A. Peach. Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, UK.
14" (35cm) Celestron SCT @ f/39.5.
Lumenera LU075M CCD camera.
Seeing poor occ fair (Pickering 3-6.)
Transparency excellent (5.5mag.)
No wind. Heavy dew.
Alt= 49-53 degs.
Here are some images from October 5th. Poor-fair seeing. This month has been
pretty dreadful so far, with a persistent cloudy anti-cyclone prevailing the
last few days :-(.
Some extensive cloud is present over Tharsis extending into Ophir/Candor.
Arsia cloud is large and quite bright well away from the limb. Good resolution
in Red, showing fine structure in Phasis and Melas/Tithonius Lacus. Also note
the dark spot at Noctis Lacus extending in a chain of tiny spots to Phoenicis
Lacus. Also note a weak SPC rift is hinted at.
Thursday, 06th of October 2005
A brief but steady opening this morning; Mars showing some excellent
detail. The blue northern polar haze/hood extends now southward to nearly
Elysium/Aetheria, with several conspicuous latitudinal striations evident.
The southern polar cap persists, although quite small.
Dr. P. Clay Sherrod
Arkansas Sky Observatories
Friday, 07th of October 2005
I made a pair of observations of Mars on September 7, 2005 (04:20 and
05:30 U.T.) under steady (6-7/10) seeing conditions. The amount of detail
that was visible made it difficult to render it all during the session,
especially over the southern hemisphere. I welcome any comments that you
may have on my observations.
Date (U.T.): September 7, 2005
Time (U.T.): 04:20 (left image) and 05:30 (right image)
CM: 129.4 (left image) and 146.4 (right image)
Ls: 301.8 (Mid-Northern Winter/Southern Summer)
De -10.8, Ds -20.9, p 0.95, 18.6"
Instrument: 9" F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Magnification: 248x and 344x
Filters (Wratten): 30 and 38
Seeing (1-10): 6-7, Antoniadi (I-V): II
Transparency (1-6): 3 (hazy)
Notes:
04:20 U.T. (Left image, IL/W30): The South Polar Cap (SPC) was very small
and brilliant (10/10). Mare Australe appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) and
mottled. Bosporos Gemmatus, Aonius Sinus, and Palinuri Fretum appeared dark
to dusky (3-4/10) and irregular over certain segments. Thaumasia, Daedalia,
and Phaethontis appeared bright (7/10). Solis Lacus appeared dark to dusky
(3-4/10) and elongated north-south towards the preceding limb. Dusky (4/10)
projections were noted to extend from it's north-preceding border (Geryon)
and southern border (Ambrosia and Bathys). A dusky (4/10) and partially
obscured (haze) Tithonius Lacus was visible north of Solis Lacus. Thaumasia
(northern portion) and Ophir appeared very bright (8/10, most likely due to
water vapor/haze). Phasis appeared as thin, dark (3/10) finger-like projection
(northward) from Aonius Sinus. Mare Sirenum was dark to dusky (3-4/10)
following the CM and appeared to contain mottling within it, especially
during moments of very steady seeing. Araxes (4-5/10) was visibly extending
from the preceding tip of Mare Sirenum. A very bright (8/10) circular albedo
feature was noted in the region of Phoenicis Lacus at the eastern (preceding)
tip of Araxes (Lux?). The eastern (preceding) section of "Valhalla" was noted
north of Mare Sirenum over Memnonia (7/10). The eastern (preceding) tip of
Mare Cimmerium was visible (4/10) on the following limb. The following
(western) border of Mare Acidalium was visible (5/10) along the preceding
limb partially obscured by a very bright to extremely bright (8-9/10) evening
limb haze (ELH, 9/10). An orographic (mountain-associated) cloud was visible
over the region of Olympus Mons (especially noted using the Wratten 30 (magenta)
filter). A small, thin and dusky (4/10) albedo feature was noted north of this
cloud. I do not believe that I was observing the actual shadow of Olympus Mons
(especially so close to the CM), but rather the shadow (?) of the orographic
cloud instead. Tharsis and Amazonis appeared shaded to bright (6-7/10) and
mottled (especially Amazonis). A very bright to extremely bright (8-9/10)
North Polar Hood (NPH) was visible (inconsistent in density as dusky (4/10)
albedo features were visible through portions of it). An extremely bright
(9/10) morning limb haze (MLH) was visible.
05:30 U.T. (Right image, W38): The South Polar Cap (SPC) appeared very small
and brilliant (10/10). Extremely bright (9/10) morning limb haze (MLH), evening
limb haze (ELH), and North Polar Hood (NPH) were visible. The eastern
(preceding) section of Tharsis was very bright (8/10). Mare Sirenum (5/10)
appeared to be bordered by bright to very bright (7-8/10) clouds/haze. The
Olympus Mons orographic cloud appeared very bright (8/10) on the CM.
Carlos E. Hernandez
Attached are my first new observations since the good late September period
20-22. The first obvious thing when I brought Mars on screen was the size
which had grown considerably, second thing and this in the blue light was the
visibility of the Arsia orographic cloud which was impressing large, already
during live capturing for the eye visible on the monitor screen. For this
session I used real red, no IR as usual. The seeing was very good to exellent
while I captured to a thin layer of mist or low clouds. The red images now
looked really better then those in near-infrared concerning resolution. Added
to the RGB full disk image (with nicely visible some small projections in Mare
Sirenum/Memnonia) is a HC blue light image and a partial high contrast RGB
color image of the Tharsis region with the orographic clouds in color.
(all images: 10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS @0.08´´/p f/60 R-sG-B).
Ralf Vandebergh
This image taken Oct 7, 03:01 UTC shows very fine detail across the whole
image. The flake-shaped structures across the Tharsis-Tractus Albus area is
not noise but a real network of fine detail. Note a very small canal-structure
between Phoenicis Lacus and Tithonius Lacus. Also several other fine structures
in this region can be seen.
(10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS @ 0.08"/p f/60 R-sG-B).
Ralf Vandebergh
The IR 670-1000nm shots show all 3 a some what brighter area with an elongated
shape in the North, located around Arcadia region. The resulting IRGB image
in color shows an interesting view of this reddish area.
Christophe Pellier found that this must be the area of Volcano Alba Patera, a
large northern Volcano of the Tharsis area, which was best seen previous
oppositions in the 90's (especially 99)
All images taken with: 10 inch Newtonian & ATK-.1HS @ f/70 )
Ralf Vandebergh
Saturday, 08th of October 2005
Seeing was fair-good,transparance very good,still some haze. Note the typical
beautiful cyan color of the NPH. There is some haze visible from the NPH,
spreading out over a larger part of the northern limb in a wavy structure.
The atmospheric view, blue light image, shows a lot of cloud activity. Most
obvious indeed the orographic cloud in the Arsia region, but there is much
more cloud especially directly below Solis Lacus in the Tharsis region.
These clouds are a bit less contrasty then the Arsia cloud is.
(10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS @ 0.08"/p f/60
Ralf Vandebergh
A second RGB result taken from 02:09-02:12 UTC
Ralf Vandebergh
This image from Oct 8, from 01:58-02:01 UTC is added with a High Contrast
luminance blue light layer to enhance the visibility of the cloud activity
in the Tharsis region. The Arsia volcano cloud is as a very bright large
area visible next to the limb.
The 'extension' of this area, another band of clouds is visible directly
below Tithonius Lacus also in the Tharsis region. The smaller HC blue light
images shows almost only the atmospheric view. Note in the L(blue)R-sG-B
image also the concentrated edges of Achillis Fons/Idacus Fons, just near
the terminator.
(10 inch Newton & ATK-1HS @ 0.08"/p f/60 L-RGB).
Ralf Vandebergh
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