This evening (12/23/07), there was a stunning pairing of a nearly full Moon and the fiery red planet Mars. We're just a couple of days past the Winter Solstice, and Mars will be at opposition tomorrow for a Christmas Eve present. I observed the conjunction of the Moon and Mars from what would normally be a horrible place to observe from - the shopping mall parking lot - as we were leaving a movie with some visiting family members. In fact it wasn't me who noticed it first, but my Siste-in-Law, who said, "Look, the Moon has a satellite"!
Seeing this motivated me to try to complete processing on some Mars images that I took last week using a Phillips Toucam webcam with a 2x Orion barlow, on my 14" Meade RCX. Capturing the data was the easy part; I simply took short (~2 min) .avi video frames using K3CCDTools software. However, since I don't do this type of image processing regularly, I found it very challenging to do the processing. I used Registax and Photoshop. This image is the result of my attempt, and while it's far from perfect I'm pleased to be able to discern various features on the surface of Mars. Click here to see a slightly larger version of this image.
I used the Sky & Telescope freeware program called "Mars Previewer II" to help identify the exotic-sounding names of the various markings, such as Sinus Meridiani, Sinus Sabaeus, Niliacus Lacus, and Mare Erythraeum. Far away places to be sure, but once again my telescope has allowed me to briefly be transported away for some exciting exploration of the universe (figuratively speaking of course)!
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