Mars

October 3, 2003

Photo by Joe Orman and Rick Scott.

This image of Mars was taken shortly after its rare close opposition of August 2003. On August 27 of that year, Mars was only 34.6 million miles from Earth (the closest it has come in the last 73,000 years!), and appeared 25.1 arc-seconds in diameter in our sky. (Since this is only about 1/150 of a degree, the planet is still relatively tiny -- by comparison, the Moon is about 1/2 degree in diameter.) When this image was taken 5 weeks later, on October 3, the planet had receded to 43.4 million miles away and appeared a bit smaller, 20.0 arc-seconds.

The image was taken with a webcam hooked up to a telescope. From 3 separate 600-frame, 40-second video captures, the best 136 frames were selected, then aligned, stacked and sharpened in RegiStax.

North is up in this image. Even in this small image, several features can be seen on the planet, most noticeable of which is the white South Polar Cap at the bottom. Going up from the cap, the dark landforms are Aonia Terra, Solis Planum, and Valles Marineris, while the large dark area on the right is Margaritifer Terra.

Location: JaZ Observatory, Arizona.
Date: October 3, 2003.
Time: 10:19 p.m. MST.
Telescope: 10" f/4.5 Coulter Odyssey Newtonian on Losmandy G11/Gemini mount with 2X Barlow.
Camera: Philips ToUcam 740K webcam at 15 frames per second with Baader IR/UV cut filter.