Mars - The Red Planet

Mars, the red planet, made famous by Lowell's claims of observing "canals" on the surface, and a favourite haunt of sci-fi writers. Much as people wanted Mars to harbour life, it appears Lowell had mistranslated the work of an earlier astronomer, Schiaparelli. The Italian had written the Latin word canali (which in fact means channels) and Lowell translated this into the much stronger word canals, which would have had to be cut purposefully by sentient beings of some kind. Today we know that Mars is a largely dead world, but may harbour microscopic life as yet undetected by us over here on Earth. However the planet Mars, named after the Bringer of War in Roman mythology, has gripped the imagination of generations.

From an astronomical point of view, Mars orbits the sun about once every 2 years. This means it is only visible from Earth as it becomes a fleeting visitor across our skies once every 2 years. Due to the vagaries of orbital mechanics, some of these visits bring Mars closer to Earth than other times. This Summer is one of the closest apparitions in history. In June Mars rises at about 1am but by September it will rise as the sun sets and be larger in our telescopes.

 
Location Butser Hill 8 August 2003
Statistics Each image was from c.300 stacked frames 
Equipment used Helios 8" newtonian reflector and 3x BarlowLogitech QuickCam Pro 4000 SC Long Exposure Modified (no lens) K3CCDTools, Registax and Photoshop
Comments

Things have improved! Mars is now larger in our telescope - with the addition of an infra red filter and more experience, our results have dramatically improved. The steady air allowed capture at 1/5 second exposures with minimal gain - which has resulted in a low level of noise. This was taken during the August heatwave, with daytime temps around the 33C mark - sitting on our hill at 2am we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Most of the images were taken on the same night, except for the top left picture, which was taken a week later in poorer conditions. It does however, show a different face of Mars. The large image has been blown up to show the fine detail. Those light coloured markings that look like clouds on the left are just that - clouds. The strong white arc around the right hand side of the planet is just an artifact of the processing. Some slight detail can also be seen in the polar cap - as the ice melts and reveals the surface underneath. South is at the top.

 
Location Butser Hill 21 June 2003
Statistics Each image was from c.300 stacked frames 
Equipment used Helios 8" newtonian reflector and 3x BarlowLogitech QuickCam Pro 4000 SC Long Exposure Modified (no lens) K3CCDTools, Registax and Photoshop
Comments

Got on a little better this time around. Better focusing was probably the key, and a better understanding of the atmospheric refraction at work. Need to try again with an infra red filter attached to the camera. The colour balance is far superior, and the definition of the polar ice cap at the bottom has improved since the last image. Although it looks less dramatic and colourful than the above images, it is a far more accurate picture.

 
Location Butser Hill 15 June 2003
Statistics Each image was from c.300 stacked frames 
Equipment used Helios 8" newtonian reflector and 3x BarlowLogitech QuickCam Pro 4000 SC Long Exposure Modified (no lens) K3CCDTools, Registax and Photoshop
Comments

This was the first go at this object. Still very small, only 15 arc seconds across compared with 40 seconds for our Jupiter pictures. Lots of atmospheric turbulence made imaging difficult, we should improve on this as the season progresses. The bottom right shows the map of Mars from Mars Previewer. Our images clearly show the south polar ice cap (bottom) and various other features such as the dark patch of Syritus Major in the top right and Mare Serpentis in the centre.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


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Page last updated 2003-06-18