Posts - Page 124 of 244 - JamesDixon.us

May 29, 2016May 29, 2016

Two Planets and the Moon

I wanted to image Mars & Saturn last night but things got in the way. The I woke up at 2:15, seemed to be awake, and remembered that I had left the gear in the car and so I took off for the soccer fields behind First Security on Highway 10. Let me tell you, you can have the place all to yourself at 3 AM. The seeing was not so good and both planets were past the meridian and getting lower with each minute so I eschewed the Barlow and shot prime focus. After shooting the planets I tried a couple features on the Moon, Grimaldi and Byrgius. I hope you like.

May 22, 2016December 16, 2020

Jupiter, Mars, & Saturn 5/21/2016

I went back to the River Ridge Observatory Saturday night to work on planets again. I had noticed some dust motes on my color camera that I’ve not been able to clean yet so I switched to my monochrome camera. It has a higher resolution. I started with Jupiter of course, and while the contrast is a little low look at these details! The Great Red Spot is at about 8 oclock near the edge and see the turbulence in the South Equatorial Belt?

Mars was next and man it is bright! I didn’t wait until it or especially Saturn in its best position because that would be about 1 AM or later. I’ve flipped and rotated Mars to account for the diagonal, North is up. On the left is Syrtis Major Planitia. The light area at about 1 o’clock is Olympus Mons (tallest volcano in the solar system). Check this map (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/atlas/).

Finally, Saturn. No self respecting photographer would have shot Saturn this low in the sky but I did anyway. It sharpened up pretty well.

May 21, 2016December 16, 2020

Jupiter and Mars 5/20/2016

It was with high hopes that I went to the River Ridge Observatory Friday night. I knew the full Moon meant I would likely be alone but the Clear Sky Clock indicated that the seeing (a measure of air steadiness and a requirement for planetary photography) would be good. Though mostly cloudy when I left the house at 8, I felt sure it clear up. It never really quite did. The seeing was not as good as I hoped and the broken clouds were continuously revealing and then obscuring the planets and the Moon. I finally gave up around 11:30 when an unbroken layer of clouds hid the Moon and Mars and somewhere Saturn. However, my main goal was accomplished – my first picture of Mars of this opposition. Mars will rapidly improve over the next few days then as rapidly recede as the Earth swings close by and then keeps going. I was also treated to a singing contest between Eastern Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-will’s-widows and a Yellow-breasted Chat who couldn’t sleep.