General Astronomy Topics

Jeff, yes sure I'd be honored to have it shared at the meeting. I used a 7" Maksutov Cassegrain with a ZWO ASI224 camera, processed in Registax.

Lowell, I really like the "wide angle" shot through the ED102... I actually had to use a focal reducer to tame the 2700mm focal length of the Mak and get both in the field!

Excellent image Bruce. Really good detail of both the Moon and Mars. What scope and camera did you use?

The first image is with the 16" dob with a Canon 50D & 2x barlow. The second image is with an Astro-Tech ED102 with the same camera & 2x barlow.

Nice picture Bruce!

If you don't mind I'd like to share it with the membership at next month's PAS meeting.

Can you please provide the details on how you captured it? Scope, camera, & any postprocessing you did?

Thanks,

Jeff

p.s. the inline photo was resized really small... trying this way to see if attachments work better...

Hi, John! I also had a great time viewing it from my yard... my best telescope view was around 200x (bino'd pair of 13 Naglers in 7" Mak), but I also really enjoyed the naked eye view. After 9:00 it was like trying to split a close double!

You know, I'm pretty sure I was seeing more detail on Mars in the moon's glare than without it! Probably like viewing planets at dusk, your eyes manage the subtle variations better than with an inky black background.

I did manage to switch in the camera for a bit and got the photo below.

Bruce.

Did anyone take a look at / image last nights close encounter of the Moon and Mars?

I was able to take a look. I took out my small TV-60 and had a great view of the two. The best view I had was at 150x. This was about 9:15 and even though the Moon was within an hour of Full, there was some crater detail visible near the Moons edge. Then there was, about 3 arc minutes away, the opposition Mars with some surprising detail with the small scope.

Anyway, it was one of those real pretty sights the the skies sometimes give. The muted color of the Moon and the salmon color of Mars was simply striking.

In about a month, this will repeat itself, only this time our area WILL get an occultation of Mars!

Clear Skies,

John..