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Post by jamesling on Sept 21, 2020 0:07:21 GMT -5
Hi All..
Mars is getting nearer and nearer to us everyday now till mid Oct...
Last week, I have already move my 8" Istar over to my friend's place as he has a roofing top observing deck..
My Istar will be mounted onto his AP900 which is just nice for this coming Mars Observation...
I need to do it at his home coz of this Covid-19, whereby my country only allow max 5 person for any social gathering and must observe social distancing with mask covering at all times..
I will be putting up more posts on my 8"ISTAR Mars opposition observation, in coming weeks and share with all of you how much this scope can show...
Regards
James Ling
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Post by GrahamP on Sept 24, 2020 4:49:00 GMT -5
Hi All.. Mars is getting nearer and nearer to us everyday now till mid Oct... Last week, I have already move my 8" Istar over to my friend's place as he has a roofing top observing deck.. My Istar will be mounted onto his AP900 which is just nice for this coming Mars Observation... I need to do it at his home coz of this Covid-19, whereby my country only allow max 5 person for any social gathering and must observe social distancing with mask covering at all times.. I will be putting up more posts on my 8"ISTAR Mars opposition observation, in coming weeks and share with all of you how much this scope can show... Regards James Ling Hi James, good to hear from you. Mate you're lucky you can have 5 people! (I'm in Melbourne) Anyway, lockdowns don't prevent some excellent viewing time. I've been checking out Mars as it comes closer and am delighted to be able to see the South pole every time, good seeing or bad. And basic surface features are easy. I am keeping a close watch, although we are not having as many clear nights as we did last year. Quite a variation! cheers ... Graham.P |
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 13, 2020 3:20:00 GMT -5
Hi All..
After waiting for 3 weeks, and nights and nights of cloudy sky, tonight, which is 13th Oct 2020, my friend and I decided tonight we will be make another trip attempt, regardless whether the sky is cloudy, unless is raining..
Will get more updates and posts inside this forum...
Regards
James Ling
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 13, 2020 7:57:39 GMT -5
yep, it's all about seeing, seeing, seeing! (I am in Frankston South on the side of a hill, somewhat away from city lights).
I had my first decent view of Mars this season on 5th September, it was cool and light breeze, seeing I recon 7 to 8. I pulled out my Royal D76.2 x F1200 because it's quick and I was short of time. 1:00am morning and altitude about 38°. Well, just excellent at 240x with a Mizar 5mm Or. I enjoyed seeing a distinct gibbous phase with solid limb, very distinct south pole and some obvious surface markings. Lovely!
Next night seeing down to 6 with light cirrus clouds. Pulled out the WO 72FD with iOptron Mini Tower, again for a fairly quick setup. Viewing again around 1:00am with similar detail visible as with the Royal the night before. Good with TMB 2.5mm at 173x, but I swear it lacks the sharpness of the Royal and just a splash of CA visible.
Viewed again on 10th Sept, turbulent air, seeing 4. With Takahashi TSA-102, detail was there but image not steady or sharp.
On 28 September, seeing was good, about 8 with 4°C temperature and still air. Brilliant viewing with Tak TSA-102 on iOptron Mini Tower. Thermals at 9:15pm but by 11:45pm air was still and I could use the TMB2.5mm at 326x, no problem. Detailed and sharp with distinct South pole and huge wavy region right across south side of equator. My best view so far this season. Best eyepiece TeleVue 4mm Radian @ 204x.
On 2nd October, pulled the Tak out again expecting great things, but temperature was 18°C and it was windy and dusty. Although sky was clear I could only just make out the South pole and caught just glimpses of surface features, the limb was a complete fuzz. Warm, dusty, thermals, bah humbug!
Final viewing so far this year on 11th October looking through light cirrus cloud at 11:50pm, altitude 42.8° with Tak TSA-102. Good to 204x with TV 4mm Radian. Glimpses of quite extensive surface detail with nuanced contrast, close to opposition with size 22.47". Best detail I have ever seen on Mars.
and I will be trying for more..
happy viewing.. Graham.P
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 14, 2020 0:50:15 GMT -5
Hi All.... Last night really is like a rehearsal for setting up my 8" Istar and trying to catch Mars in a very cloudy night... My friend and I only have 1.0 hr , from 9pm till 10pm to view to try to get a view of Mars when it appears between the thick clouds...  The above photo is me trying to align Mars to my eye-piece after setting up the telescope....  This photo is taken from my handphone through the eye-piece of my telescope at around 300X. Visually you can see the polar ice cap on the bottom side of the view. But this time, the dark shading on the surface of Mars is not as prominent and dark as the one I have seen during 2016 Mars opposition . Weather is quite bad last night, and we decided to call it off at 10pm, and will come back again another night to try our luck again... Will continue to update everyone here , whenever I make another attempt to put up a nice video of Mars ... Regards James Ling |
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 14, 2020 5:20:57 GMT -5
Congratulations James,
thanks for sharing and thanks for the photos, you've broken the drought!
Commendable photo with phone, some detail and pretty sharp rim, well done.
cheers ... Graham.P
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 18, 2020 2:42:19 GMT -5
Congratulations James, thanks for sharing and thanks for the photos, you've broken the drought! Commendable photo with phone, some detail and pretty sharp rim, well done. cheers ... Graham.P Hi All.... Yes... Weather has not been promising for the past 3 to 4 weeks, and I even need to do one setup under a badly cloudy night as per last update... Both my friend and myself must also keep the time short , as we need to get back to work the next morning... Surprisingly , yesterday , which is 17th Oct 2020, the weather is totally difference from the past 3 over weeks of waiting time... The whole day is sunny , with blue sky and not very cloudy... My friend and myself make another last minute arrangement to attempt to chase Mars after 9.30pm. This time round, with all the setting and marking are done from last Tuesday rehearsal setup, like dovetail and counterweights all properly identified , so that no more balancing is needed... And the setup is less than 10mins with only both of us putting up the massive scope onto the AP900 pier mount...which is polar aligned... Last night is really an unforgetful and amazing night, whereby almost cloudless in the East region which Mars rises, and it shines so bright that at almost 10pm, and the elevation is quite high, and without the need to wait for an hour or more, I can easily power up Mars to 400X , using a 2X barlow and the 9mm televue eye-piece... Mars polar cap is so distinct and pop into view, whereas during the last Tuesday night observing, is still quite dim due to the layer of cloud that Mars shines through... I further enhance the view with a contrast booster filter, and this filter is really useful , rather than most of us also have a box of colour filters..to try .. As I do not want to waste time , I quickly setup my DSLR , which I used both the 2X barlow , plus another 2X tele-converter, to get into a 4X power magnification, and the view of Mars from the DSLR to my 32" TV, really show Mars in light pink colour, and light dark shading, with the polar cap very clearly defined..... The following are some of the photos that I download from my DSLR, although it does not show what you see through the TV screen.. And if you will to physically view through the eye-piece, the dark shading is even more in detail, a much bigger and intricate light patch covering more than half the size of mars..      I also took two short video clips, and download one of them into the utube, which there is nothing great at all, with my little time to figure out how to do better video taking...But I have some conversation with my friend when I took this video clip, just to show how happy and eager I am at that moment of time... I hope all of you enjoy my update, and will continue to do one or two more Mars update for the coming two weeks.... Thks... James Ling |
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 18, 2020 8:14:08 GMT -5
Hello James,
you have been so lucky! You have had some fantastic views, thank heavens & while Mars is still close to opposition..
Thank you for your fabulous account which makes a great read.
Kind regards... Graham.P
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 18, 2020 19:00:17 GMT -5
Hello James, you have been so lucky! You have had some fantastic views, thank heavens & while Mars is still close to opposition.. Thank you for your fabulous account which makes a great read. Kind regards... Graham.P Thanks Graham... For your comment... Hi All.. I have downloaded another two short video clips in utube for sharing.. This one the Mars photos are taken through my hp, directly from the TV screen, although is not clear, but the clear distinct ice polar cap will tell how you can enjoy while looking at the live view on the TV screen. This video clip shows the exact setup I used for this Mars visual and DSLR shooting.. Hope all of you can enjoy watching these two video clips... Regards James Ling |
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 21, 2020 6:43:34 GMT -5
thanks James,
I did enjoy seeing your two setup videos, and looks great. Were you able to record directly off the TV? I note your screen shots look overexposed which I'm sure does not do them justice.
Commenting on your earlier photos through the eyepiece, I can see that there is a broad scale of shades and good detail hiding behind the average photos. I wish I could be there to look directly through the 8" iStar! Must be rather satisfying.
cheers ... Graham.P
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 21, 2020 7:37:05 GMT -5
Hi James, hi everyone else! we had some clear skies again two nights ago (19th October 2020). Still air, around 9°C with seeing a good 7. I set up my SkyWatcher D150 x 1200 achromat for some good viewing (with NEQ6 Pro mount). Around 12:00pm, altitude was around 43°, diameter 21.86" and brightness -2.51, seeing good. I notice that with the red planet I cannot go too high in magnification with the SW achromat. With a 4mm Radian at 300x, there is so much flare that detail and viewing pleasure is lost. Visually I was better with the Vixen 9mm NLV. Quite good detail visible in there, but chromatic aberration rather intrusive with obvious red and green fringing. I dabble in astro-photography, no more than that. And for that I like eyepiece projection for the planets. On Mars I used my 2" Varimax II, with the Vixen 9mm NLV eyepiece and the Varimax set to "5" or "10" on the Varimax scale. Camera was a Canon 1100D (standard, with remote cable shutter release). My amateur results are attached for your amusement (last photo is probably the best). I am rather sorry that I cannot use my iStar D180 F8/R30 which is far from finished, however, everything in good time as they say. Kind regards and pleasant viewing! Graham.P    I was able to setup just inside our garage door with a towel draped to hide our street light. How very convenient!   |
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Post by GrahamP on Oct 22, 2020 6:31:57 GMT -5
Hi again, a short follow-up to show you the Varimax II eyepiece projection unit that I used on 19th October for Mars. This has a 2" barrel and can take 1-1/4" or 2" eyepieces provided they are not too large. The space for the eyepiece has a large internal diameter of 72.2mm (2.84") making it quite versatile. cheers all! Graham.P    |
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 24, 2020 3:47:05 GMT -5
Hi Graham P.
Great to know you are also chasing after Mars...
I have plan to do another attempt with my friend, and will use my friend's CCD to record the video images from my ISTAR telescope.
Hi Graham P. and all...
After one whole week has passed, today which is another Saturday weekend , and at this moment which is afternoon time, the weather looks promising, and if it continues to have clear sky , or not very cloudy, tonight will make one attempt to use CCD to capture Mars.
Will update all again if tonight's attempt is successful or not...
Regards
James Ling
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 25, 2020 19:01:16 GMT -5
Hi All... The following are my latest update on last weekend attempt to capture Mars using CCD at my friend's roof top... Last Saturday, although weather looks promising in the afternoon, but come to night time, again is cloud all over, and we need to call it off again. Yesterday again weather doesn't looks good in the morning, but come to noon, the weather changed and is a sunny day, with blue sky and some clouds... So we decided to try again, and this time , weather continues to be good and clear sky with very much lesser clouds by evening time... And here are the photos for the setup...And the person doing the CCD capturing is my friend , Alfred    There is a super short video clip I took using my hp and download into utube on this capturing process... I will post some photos of Mars after processing by my friend... Regards James Ling Attachments:
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Post by jamesling1000 on Oct 25, 2020 20:00:54 GMT -5
Hi All... The last two image of Mars are processed by my friend after I left his place for that short session... These are a few of the images that he processed and sent to me...    Last night I didn't have time to do eye piece projection to my DSLR , as my previous attempt is only using prime focus with 2X barlow and 2X tele-convertor, which result small image size as compared to the CCD capturing method we did last night... I will make another attempt before Mars starts getting smaller and smaller while now is still at least 20 arc sec... So far , as per my personal comment, I still prefer visual observing although the shading is not as dark as from the CCD, but you really can see intricate finer details , which is very light, and the polar cap is noticeable last night while the CCD struggles to pick this up... Last night I couldn't push the magnification higher beyond 300X, which otherwise be more challenging to look out for more details... Regards James Ling |
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