Mars Opposition 2003
   I used my Takahashi 4" f/8 refractor with a 5x TeleVue Powermate, a Phillips ToUcam Pro webcam, and an Astronomik IR filter to obtain video for making the images and movies below. Each video was 3 minutes in duration, yielding approximately 360 frames for processing in RegiStax. The start times of the videos were offset by 6 minutes. This webcam is USB1.1, and this affects the number of images per second that can be transferred to my laptop. My experience indicates that setting the capture rate to 2 frames per second results in minimal duplication of frames. The exposure is 1/25 second with about 15% gain. Setting the gain above about 20-25% results in grainier images due to amplifier noise.
   The videos are processed using RegiStax, a powerful freeware product, in which the individual frames are co-located, and based on user selected criteria the best frames are retained, averaged together, and image processing routines can be applied. By averaging many frames the noise due to random distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence is reduced. It can be shown mathematically that the noise reduction is proportional to the square root of the number of frames averaged. For example, by averaging 100 frames the random noise is reduced by a factor of 10 compared to a single frame. In Paint Shop Pro I manually co-located each of the individual images, and put on the various labels. Then I made the movie using the animation wizard.
   6 September 2003: This was my second excursion to capture Mars on video. My previous effort was on 24 August 2003, using the telescope configuration above, but with a TeleVue 2.5x barlow lens. To increase the image scale I purchased the 5x TeleVue Powermate used here. Each frame of the movie is separated by 6 minutes. The movie covers the period 7:00-9:30UT. Mars rotates once on its axis in approximately 24 hours 37 minutes, so during the movie Mars rotates through about 37 degrees. You will notice that during the middle third of the movie the frames become blurry. This is because dew formed on the telescope lens (I've only experienced dew at Hidden Hill Observatory 3 times in 12 years-of course it had to happen on this night!). Once I realized this was occurring I used my clipboard to fan the main optics in the 3 minutes between video sessions. With the increased air flow the dew eventually abated.
   12 September 2003: Each frame of the movie is separated by 6 minutes. The movie covers the period 5:35-8:30UT. During the movie Mars rotates about 44 degrees on its axis.
   Mars Opposition 2005 images are also available.
Click on the pictures to see full size versions.
 
Mars (12kb)
6 September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam


Mars (12kb)
12September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam
Mars (21kb)
with surface feature annotations
6 September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam

Mars (19kb)
with surface feature annotations
12 September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam
Mars: The Movie (149kb)
See Mars rotate about 37
degrees on its axis!
6 September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam

Mars: The Movie (212kb)
See Mars rotate about 44
degrees on its axis!
12September 2003
Takahashi 4" f/8, 5x TeleVue Powermate,
Astronomik IR filter, and Phillips ToUcam









All photos are copyright K. R. Sperber
Paint Shop Pro (c) Jasc Software Inc.
RegiStax (programming by C. Berrevoets)
Mention of copyrighted software does not imply endorsement.
Mars Opposition 2005
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