Mars this morning (may 10)

Conditions were poor here in New Orleans this morning, mostly cloudy with lots of wind up high (clouds moving fast). Still I was awake so I got out an observed Mars for a while. I took this picture at 5:13 CDT this morning with an 8" SCT.

There appear to be some blue clouds over the Argyre region and northern limb (south is up).

Attached Image:

Hi Bruce,

Great images.

I tried to get a peek at Mars and had my scope out by midnight. Spent the time checking double stars and had really good seeing and average transparency. By 3 a.m. the clouds rolled in...again.

Thanks for posting the image since between you, Carlos, Graeme and Angel, I wouldn't be getting any sneak peeks at all.

Thanks again, Sol Robbins

You're welcome, Sol!

I think we need to arrange a "tag team" though, as waking up at 4:00 is tough, especially more than one day in a row.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the weather. We've all been there and feel your pain... staying up until 3:00 and then getting clouded out is just not fair!

Bruce.

Hi Bruce,

Very nice image with excellent color fidelity (something I'm struggling with due to Mar's low altitude and severe blue fringing).

It’s a good idea to start imaging early as to gain experience. In my opinion everything that is said about the challenge Mars represents to visual observers can be applied to imaging it. First of all is not around every year to practice, second is relatively low in the sky, rather small size and my biggest challenge so far is the wide dynamic range of the various features.

Thanks for your image,

Angel

Bruce,

An excellent image of Mars showing much detail. Please be patient as Mars is not easy target for both visual observations and imaging. We all look forward to your future images.

Carlos