Backyard M
n Backyard Mn
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Areas of the Moon | |
| Phases of the Moon | Links, Books, Software | Moon news, librations, lunations... |
| some pages under construction ... | Latest Photos and Observing Log | Index to Backyard Moon |
Planets ... and other Astronomy
Planet software Mars Venus Jupiter Saturn Other Astronomy
Photographs not very good but I enjoy the views through the Tal. Have just got an Orion Steadypix to hold my camera onto the scope which might help with the camera-wobble :-) - will post any improvements eventually (None Yet!!). Links on how to improve photographs here
Actual Mars
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| Bits of Mars dust! | From meteorite NWA 998 |
Water on mars? ?? ???
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| NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on
Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven
years. "These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Washington. Image above: A new gully deposit in a crater in the Centauri Montes Region. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| More details from NASA |
Mars - observing ...
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| NOT as seen through the Tal - alas! but put together from the photos on the cd with Sky at Night magazine Nov 2005. Many thanks to Ade Ashford for the Mars Observer program which gives views of Mars at any time or date. Other Mars programs also on the cd, including Mars Previewer II |
Views from the Tal - back to earth ...
24th Nov 2005
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17th Nov 2005
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| Mars Previewer | Photos from 3 videos | Stacked and | twiddled!! |
13th Nov 2005/ 16th Nov 2005
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| Not a lot of detail showing either on the stacked photo
or through the Tal 13th Nov |
Mars Previewer graphic from same time - north up 13th Nov |
Still some detail through the Tal but not caught much on photo -
probably needs more care in choosing frames to stack - video wobbles as I shake with cold
;-) 16th Nov |
6th November 2005
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Stacked images from different eyepieces First with cheap but useful zoom Second with Kellner 15 mm Both with x 3 Barlow |
November 4th 2005
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| Image from Mars Previewer - see software link - names with this software tend to be the older versions | Brief break in clouds 19:30. Stacked video frames. Dark areas could be seen in south, probably the Aonia Terra south of Solis high plain, with the impact basin Argyre to the east. The 4 huge volcanoes would be to the north with the deep Valles Marineris (deeper than the Grand canyon by far) running to the east. Lacking a much bigger telescope, imagination will have to do ;-) ... or see below from ESA | Screen dump from Mars Profiler - see link below - names here tend to be the older versions |
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Here on the left is a close-up of
craters in the Argyre
impact basin from Mars Express 24 November 2004 |
Link to ESA Mars Express |
November 1st 2005
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| Again - stacked photos from videos. Seeing poor and
cloud coming over by the time Mars rose over the rooftops. Slight dark smear probably Terra Sirenum in the south |
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| Sky and Telescope have an
online 'which side is showing' Mars
Profiler (again from Ade Ashford) which also gives names - very useful. Like
Mars Previewer some of the names may be used differently now - see below. Worth checking
out.
screen dump from Sky and Telescope Mars Profiler - south is up While you're there, Sky and Telescope also have and
article online on Mars - Big,
Bright Mars Swings Close by Earth |
30th October 2005
 Rotated so that North is up |
| Actual photo from 30th Oct 2005 -
21:00UT. Faint detail shown. Stacked from video
taken with hand held digital camera. Better image than previous
attempt - not hard ;-) - stacked over 100 images with Registax see 'Things to do' If you have a better photo, you may see the dark Terra Sirenum in SE, Terra Cimmeria in SW - I think!! The huge volcano Olympus Mons would be to the NE but not visible without a much bigger telescope???
Image from Ade Ashford's Mars Observer on Sky at Night magazine free cd Nov 2005 - north is up!! See Planet Software |
29th October 2005 - 21:00 UT
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| This is a Sketch of
the detail seen last night - simple spray on top of an actual photo from 21:00 UT 29th
October 2005 - S. at top Possibly some of the dark patch is the high Terra Sirenum in the south with the low plain of Amazonis Planitia in the north??? |
Took a short video of Mars last
night (29th Oct) - this is one frame from it. Stacked 4 of the brighter
frames using Registax
And while you're there you can download a Mars 'Globe' to make ;-) - and a map |
This is the result from the stacking (done simply on Auto with a little tweak) - slight detail showing up (honest!!) which just about matches what I saw |
| If you want to do a course on Exploring Mars then the Open University do a short one |
 Graphic from Ade Ashford's Mars Observer for this time and date - rotated 180 deg to match the south at top in 'scope |
If you tried Stacking with more frames (and actually read the instructions) and twiddled a bit I'm sure you could get better results! I'll leave the twiddling to you - let me know if you get any good results |
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| Sketch - 26th Oct - inverted as seen through the scope | 26th Oct - actual photo - clear sky ESE | 28th Oct - actual photo - very poor seeing - ESE | Sketch - 28th Oct - inverted to fit view from Tal - south up - needs rotating | From Mars Previewer II with north up, east to right. |
| Space Weather News for Oct. 29,
2005 http://spaceweather.com for full story "ENCOUNTER WITH MARS: This weekend, Mars comes closer to Earth than it will again for another 13 years. ... OCTOPUS DUST STORM: A new dust storm has erupted on Mars, big and bright enough to see through backyard telescopes. Some longtime observers say it's the most intense they've ever seen. On Oct. 28th the billowing cloud assumed the shaped of a giant tentacled octopus. Mars is putting on quite a show." Want some real close-ups of Mars? Try MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES Or look at the images from ESA's Mars Express
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23rd August 2005 First view in 2005 through the Tal. Seeing poor, just above rooftops and trees. No details seen. Graphic from Mars Previewer (see Software below) |
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Mars - at its closest on 23rd August 2003. Taken blind with a simple digital camera (Classic Mercury) through the Tal |
5th July 2005 - hurray - at
last!! Mars is back - in the East. No - not the bright orange object at the bottom of the picture, that was a street light - the miniscule dot part way up is the red planet - gradually getting into telescope position ... clear, steady and red in 20 x 50 binocs between trees and between rain clouds at 02:20 BST |
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Getting closer as the months move on - but not as close as some stories suggest ;- |
NASA's Next Leap in Mars Exploration Ready for Launch
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is ready for a morning launch on Thursday, Aug. 11. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in March 2006 for a mission to understand the planet's water riddles and to advance the exploration of the mysterious red planet. |
NASA Science News for July 7, 2005 There's a rumor going around about Mars: It's racing toward Earth and soon to be as large ... as the full Moon? |
NASA Science News for July 14,
2005 When humans visit Mars, they'll have to watch out for towering electrified dust devils. |
NASA Science News for July 22,
2005 The planet Mars joins the Perseid meteor shower for a beautiful display on August 12th. |
remember to keep your firewall/antivirus up-to-date - all links at own risk
| If you are
observing Mars in the coming months, you may need to work out
what the dark and light splodges are. This neat
program Mars
Previewer II (free) from Leandro Rios shows you
the main features of Mars real time from your observing position Check out what Mars looks like tonight (or other nights) at Mars Base dot Net Has several java-based items. Provides views, location of moons, times., sunrise etc Several Mars programs on the cd with November's Sky at Night magazine - plus tips on observing Mars from Patrick Moore
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| Likewise - to see Jupiter, its Red Spot position and location of its moons try The Planets It also shows Saturn's ring and moon positions. Again - free |
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| Saturn - an early picture, taken on December 7th, 2003 with the Mercury Classic digital camera through the Tal. Doctored for double image - I'm sure you could get much better results! | More attempts in 2005/6 | Stills, not tried video on Saturn yet |
![12mar2045sat360[1].jpg (11707 bytes)](planets/12mar2045sat360[1].jpg) |
2007 The Saturn photo on the left is not quite as low-tech as the others - but it was taken by the same methods and from the same back yard (and by me which doesn't help!) - and on a clear night The telescope used was an 8" SCT, with a drive to keep Saturn in sight. E/p were possibly (sorry, always think I'll remember) the Celestron's 25mm and the Tal's x3 Barlow The camera was a Lumix x12 zoom, using the Movie mode. Just hand-held to e/p, focussed by looking at camera screen and twiddling 'scope focusser |
Resulting video was about 1 minute and was 640 x 480 in MOV format This I had to convert to AVI by using SmartSoftVideoConverter Then I took out any audio and any duff frames in Virtual Dub and resaved it Then brought it up in Registax, auto-stacked it, fiddled with the wavelength sliders, enlarged the result and saved it - the best photo I've taken of Saturn!! click here for more info on software |
| From ESA More at: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM3IE808BE_index_0.html SOHO watches Saturn and Cassini pass behind Sun
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| image from ESA Saturn seen passing behind the Sun 27 July 2005 In this SOHO image, taken 21 July 2005,the Sun is represented by the white circle in the centre. Saturn is the bright object to the left of the Sun.Saturn was approaching a position called 'superior conjunction',that is, it would be almost directly behind the Sun as seen from Earth. Therefore the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, was not able to send or receive transmissions normally |
Jupiter
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Jupiter - 14th April 2005 x40 obj, x3 Barlow, x3 zoom Most photos will benefit from tweaking in a software package or stacking etc. My main aim is viewing through a telescope so my photos get minimum twiddle so don't be put off |
 No Earth's Moon from the Backyard but at least there were 4 of Jupiter's for a spell between the clouds May 1st 2005 and later that week
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| December 2005 - first via Bresser refractor |
 ESA pic |
ESA Venus Express launches - 9th Nov 2005 "Venus Express will eventually manoeuvre itself into orbit around Venus in order to perform a detailed study of the structure, chemistry and dynamics of the planet's atmosphere, which is characterised by extremely high temperatures, very high atmospheric pressure, a huge 'greenhouse effect' and as-yet inexplicable 'super-rotation' which means that it speeds around the planet in just four days." Build a model of the Venus Express? |
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August 3rd, 2005 ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has just completed its last phase of testing in Europe and is ready to be shipped to its launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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Full story: Blazing hot temperatures welcomed ESA's Venus Express spacecraft as it arrived at the Yubileiny airport of the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Sunday morning, 7 August. |
 Images from ESA |
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| Changes in the positions of the Moon and
Venus over 4 days Day 1 of young moon - Venus high in the sky |
Day 2 - Venus catching up with the moon | Enlarged - and from a different angle - day 3 | Day 4 - Venus now below the crescent moon |
New Planet
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| NASA Science News for
July 29, 2005 Astronomers have found a new world bigger than Pluto in the outer reaches of the solar system. |
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| August 2006 PLUTO - now a dwarf planet!! |
Other Astronomy
Wednesday, 12 October 2005,
07:47 GMT 08:47 UK 
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"China has successfully launched its second manned spacecraft, carrying two Chinese astronauts into orbit. China's official media has speculated that the space capsule will be in orbit for five days, circling the Earth up to 80 times before landing in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia." |
Photos from BBC News website
Shuttle takes off again! 26-07-2005
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| Watched live via computer | Shuttle Discovery launched 14:39 UT Tuesday July 26th, 2005 | Photos off computer |
Deep Impact hits Comet - July 4th, 2005
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- 2 Mars Viewers on CDROM
with Sky at Night magazine November 2005 Issue
