October 2005: With The closest approach of Mars to Earth since September of 2003, I went back into business imaging our neighboring planet.  Also, this was a good chance to image with the more sophisticated Philips Toucam Pro 840K that I purchased and test it out!

Equipment:  First light for a new Philips Toucam Pro 840K I bought that was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT at f/20 with a Televue 2.0X Barlow.

Seeing: Excellent (warm, dry night with exceptionally steady air)

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.

 

 

Captured in 640x480 mode at 5:27PM DST.  Best few hundred frames combined.

 

2003: With the closest approach of Mars to Earth in many years I took advantage of almost any clear night to observe the Red Planet.  Most of these shots are taken with a Philips Vesta Pro 675K camera attached to my LX-90 8" SCT.

Equipment:  The Vesta Pro 675K was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Tele Vue 2.0X Barlow.  

 

Animated gif showing rotation from 9:07PM through 9:55PM to 10:30PM.

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.  The final images tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

Seeing: Average

Captured in 640x480 mode at 9:07PM JST.  Best 233 frames combined.

Captured in 640x480 mode at 9:47PM JST.  Best 388 frames combined.

Captured in 640x480 mode at 10:30PM JST.  Best 311 frames combined.

 

 

Captured in 320x240 mode at 9:01PM JST.  Best 226 frames combined.

Captured in 320x240 mode at 9:500PM JST.  Best 656 frames combined.

Captured in 320x240 mode at 10:27PM JST.  Best 156 frames combined.

Equipment:  The Vesta Pro 675K was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Tele Vue 2.0X Barlow.  

 

Animated gif showing rotation from 8:27PM to 10:34PM.

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.  The final images tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

 

Seeing: Average

Captured in 320x240 mode at 8:27 PM JST.  Best 350 frames combined.  Mars closer to horizon.

Captured in 320x240 mode at 10:34 PM JST.  Best 136 frames combined.  Mars higher above horizon.

Captured in 640x480 mode at 10:43PM JST.  Best 455 frames combined.

These were taken the same day as the conjunction above when the seeing was fairly average.  This view shows the Valles Marineris region.

Equipment:  The Vesta Pro 675K was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Tele Vue 2.0X Barlow.  

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.  The final images tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

Seeing: Average

Captured in 320x240 mode

Captured in 640x480 mode.

Captured in 640x480 mode.  Red channel is turned down quite a bit to show surface features.

Close encounter of Mars and the Moon as seen from Yonezawa, Japan. 9:24 PM local, 12:24 UT, September 9th, 2003.  Angular separation is about 10'.  Closest approach was about 4' 30". Photographed with a Canon EOS 10D at prime focus of the Meade LX-90.

Click on photo for larger view.

Another shot a few days later with a little better seeing. The prominent feature visible is Terra Meridian.

Equipment:  The Vesta Pro 675K was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Tele Vue 2.0X Barlow.  

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.  The final images tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

Seeing: Poor

Captured in 320x240 mode

Captured in 320x240 mode. Red channel reduced to show more surface detail.

Captured in 640x480 mode.

My first attempt to image anything with a Philips Vesta Pro 675K camera.  Syrtis Major is the prominent surface feature visible.  Note how much Mars' southern polar cap has shrunk in nearly one month!

Equipment:  The Vesta Pro 675K was attached at prime focus of the Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Tele Vue 2.0X Barlow.  

Capture & Processing: Video captured using K3 CCD Tools.  Several hundred of the best frames stacked and processed using Registax.  The final images tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

Seeing: Very poor

Captured in 640x480 mode.

Captured in 640x480 mode but reduced a bit to show detail.

Captured in 320x240 mode. Red channel reduced to show more surface detail.

First light for the LX-90 on Mars.  Video taken afocally through Meade LX-90 8" SCT with a Panasonic MX5000 camcorder.  8mm Televue Radian used.  Nine frames of video selected, stacked, and processed using Registax.  Two separately processed *.jpg files then combined and tweaked with Adobe Photoshop.

Click on photo for larger view.