Mars

During August 2003, Mars had a very favourable opposition, coming as close to the Earth as it would do for the next 60,000 years. One unfortunate side effect of this was a report circulated via the web that Mars "would appear as large as the Moon"! This mis-leading report would continue to circulate every August through until 2007!!!!!!

During the best time of opposition, I was either busy with public field nights or visiting the Rosemary Hill Observatory. While at Rosemary Hill, I had the opportunity to use their 18" Ritchey-Chrétien telescope to image Mars. Unfortunately, while it is an excelent telescope, there was no way to increase the focal length beyond the prime focus of f/10.5. This resulted in rather small images. On the other hand, the CCD was fitted with a filter wheel which allowed me to experiment with colour imaging.

0.02 second image. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 2, 2003.

Combination of 10, 0.02 second images each through red, visual, and blue filters. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 3, 2003.

Combination of 5, 0.01 second images using a red filter. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 4, 2003.

Combination of 5, 0.01 second images using a visual filter. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 4, 2003.

Combination of 5, 0.01 second images using a blue filter. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 4, 2003.

Combination of the above 3 images.

0.01 second image. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 5, 2003.

Combination of 5 0.02 second images each through red, visual, and blue filters. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 6, 2003.

Combination of the above image and 5 0.02 second images unfiltered. SBIG ST-8 CCD.
18" f/10.5 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at prime focus.
August 6, 2003.