Marswatch 1998-1999 Apparition Linking Amateur and Professional Mars Observing Communities.

Images - 1999 May 11-20
    (All times U. T. - Images not to scale. Click on image for more or larger scale views where available.)

11

Bob Bunge, Bowie, Maryland, E-mail: rbunge@radix.net
20-inch (50 cm) f/6.4 reflector, 200/270/480x
02:00 UT
Seeing 8 out of 10.

Good look at Sinus Meridiani - with the dark north-ward pointing extensions clearly seen. Oxus extension was sharply defined and fanned out into faint dark markings that extended to Niliacus Lacus. A couple of dark areas north of Aurorae Sinus were visible in moments of excellent seeing. Chryse not bright. White-blue area North of Nilokeras more blue than on May 10. Nice dark ring around the North Polar cap.

Frank J. Melillo, Holtsville, New York, FrankJ12@aol.com

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

04:04 UT

12

Bob Bunge, Bowie, Maryland, E-mail: rbunge@radix.net
20-inch (50 cm) f/6.4 reflector, 200/270/480x
02:00 UT
Seeing: 7 out of 10.

Less detail than May 10. Sinus Meridiani was the darkest and most apparent marking. In moments of good seeing the small, darkest northern extension looked like the shadow of moon. Appeared to be white clouds on the limb just south of Sinus Meridiani. Clouds over the south pole seemed to have a dark band around their edge - sunlight shadow on the planet surface? White-blue clouds north of Nilokeras appeared to have spread in the the break between Niliacus Lacus and Mare Acidalium.

Samuel R. Whitby, Hopewell, Virginia, E-mail: whitbyu@erols.com
7-inch (17.8 cm) refractor (Richmond Astronomical Society, Bon Air, Virginia), 23A filter, 457x and 6-inch (15.2 cm) home-made reflector (Hopewell, Virginia), 23A filter, 339x.

.02:35 UT (CM: 26°), 04:00 UT (CM: 41°);  L_s: 137.4°; D_e: 21°
Seeing: 7; Transparency: 5.

Donald C. Parker, Coral Gables, Florida
Lynxx PC camera, 16-in (41cm) f/6 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection @ f/47.8

Integration Times:
   Blue (BG12 + IR Rejection)     9.75s
   Green (VG9 + IR Rejection)    4.25s
   Red (RG610 + IR Rejection)   0.43s
Images flat and dark corrected.
Seeing poor (3-4). Transparency 4.0m (clouds). Wind gusty, ENE-ESE 0-13 knots.
No dew. Strong violet clearing. Clouds over Chryse-Xanthe, Tempe, and Acidalium. Cloud over Valles Marineris. Hint of North Polar Cap (NPC) rift. Hydrae S. prominent; Hydaspses possible on the red light image.

Daniel M. Troiani, ALPO Mars Section Coordinator, Chicago, Illinois, E-mail: dantroiani@earthlink.net
18" f/6 Newtonian, 485x.

07:22-07:38; CM: 91°; D_e: 21°
Filters: W#80a, W#47, W#25
Seeing: 10/10;  Transparency: 6/6
Blue Clearing (0-3): 3

Observing Site: Massai Point; Chiricahua National Monument; Willcox, AZ; (Southeast Arizona) Elevation: 6,870'.

Tomio Akutsu, Japan; E-mail: is6t-akt@asahi-net.or.jp
32cm F/6.5 Reflector Telers2 KAF0400E CCD

Sylvain Weiller, St Remy lès Chevreuse, France (Lat 48° 42' N, Long 2° 04' E, 30 Km SW of Paris, France) E-mail: weiller@cochin.inserm.fr.
Quickcam Pro, 8-in (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain on an SP Perl Vixen equatorial mount, Eyepiece Projection, 26mm Celeston eyepiece. Camera located 22 cm from eyepiece.

20:27 U.T.

Nelson Falsarella, Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, BRAZIL; E-mail: nfalsarella@riopreto.com.br
International Mars Patrol, Rede de Astronomia Observacional, REA-Brazil
AVA ASTROVID 400 CCD Videocamera; 8-in (20cm) f/6.5 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection with a MEADE Series 3000 Plossl 5mm.

13

Nelson Falsarella, Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, BRAZIL; E-mail: nfalsarella@riopreto.com.br
International Mars Patrol, Rede de Astronomia Observacional, REA-Brazil
AVA ASTROVID 400 CCD Videocamera; 8-in (20cm) f/6.5 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection with a MEADE Series 3000 Plossl 5mm.

Daniel M. Troiani, ALPO Mars Section Coordinator, Chicago, Illinois, E-mail: dantroiani@earthlink.net
18" f/6 Newtonian, 485x.

02:28-02:44; CM: 10-15°; L_s: 138°; D_e: 20.8°
Filters: W#80a, W#47, W#25
Seeing: 10/10;  Transparency: 6/6
Blue Clearing (0-3): 3

Observing Site: Massai Point; Chiricahua National Monument; Willcox, AZ; (Southeast Arizona) Lat.: 32°, Long. 109.5°, Elevation: 6,870'.

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:35 UT, CM: 26°.

Samuel R. Whitby, Hopewell, Virginia, E-mail: whitbyu@erols.com
6-inch (15.2 cm) home-made reflector (Hopewell, Virginia), 23A filter, 310x.

04:00 UT (CM: 33°), 04:15 UT (CM: 36°);  L_s: 137.9°; D_e: 21°

Denis Fell, New Sweden, Alberta, Canada (113.16°W, 52.55°N), email:dfell@telusplanet.net
Astrovid 1000 CCD camera, 8-in (20cm) f/10 SCT, Negative projection f/30, Wratten #21 orange filter. Processed with Snappy, SuperFix and Micrografx Photomagic.

04:30-05:20 UT, CM: 148°.
Martian diameter 15.79", L_s: 139.1°; D_e: 21.25, Phase 0.980

Seeing Antoniadi II.
Darkest features Mare Acidalium, Niliacus Lacus, Aurorae Sinus and Margaritifer Sinus, bright areas noted over Aeria & Chryse. Sabeus Sinus and Sinus Meridianii very sharp during moments of good seeing. North is up.

Donald C. Parker, Coral Gables, Florida
Lynxx PC camera, 16-in (41cm) f/6 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection @ f/47.8

Integration Times:
   Blue (BG12 + IR Rejection)     11.50s
   Green (VG9 + IR Rejection)    4.75s
   Red (RG610 + IR Rejection)   0.41s
Images flat and dark corrected.
Seeing good (7-8). Transparency 4.0-4.5m, haze. No wind. Heavy dew.
Strong violet clearing. Clouds over Chryse-Xanthe, Tempe, and Acidalium. North Polar Cap (NPC) rift, possibly Chasma Borealis with Ierne dull to the west of the NPC. Hydrae S. prominent. Streaks in Chryse noted -- possibly Hydapses and Iamuna.

Tomio Akutsu, Japan; E-mail: is6t-akt@asahi-net.or.jp
32cm F/6.5 Reflector Telers2 KAF0400E CCD

Mario Frassati, Crescentino (VC), Italy
8-in (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain, 300x.

21:30 UT, CM: 288.5°.
Martian diameter 15.8", Phase 0.98 Seeing: 3

Jean-François Mourron, Toulouse, France, E-mail: j.f.mourron@wanadoo.fr
6" (15 cm) Maksutov and a video CCD camera.

22:00 UT.

J. Porto, Azores

14

Frank J. Melillo, Holtsville, New York, FrankJ12@aol.com

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:46 UT, CM: 21°.

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:56 UT, CM: 23°.

Donald C. Parker, Coral Gables, Florida
Lynxx PC camera, 16-in (41cm) f/6 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection @ f/47.8

Integration Times:
   Blue (BG12 + IR Rejection)    11.50s
   Green (VG9 + IR Rejection)    4.75s
   Red (RG610 + IR Rejection)   0.41s
Images flat and dark corrected.
Seeing good (7-8). Transparency 4.0-4.5m, haze. No wind. Heavy dew.
Strong violet clearing. Clouds over Chryse-Xanthe, Tempe, and Acidalium. NPC rift, possibly Chasma Borealis with Ierne dull to the west of the North Polar Cap (NPC). Hydrae S. prominent. Streaks in Chryse noted -- possibly Hydapses and Iamuna.

Victor G. Tejfel, Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Physics, Fessenkov Astrophysical Institute, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan; E-mail: tejf@hotmail.com
ST-6V CCD camera; 24-in (60 cm) Cassegrain.

António Cidadão, Oeiras, Portugal
ST-5C camera 10-in (25cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain

Seeing conditions: 6/10.

Haze over Hellas. Clouds over Elysium and Moab. Hint of Syrtis blue cloud. Cloud or frost over Lemuria region, near North Polar cap region (Olympia?).

Please notice that I produced R(G)B images. In these, the G channel is synthesized by averaging R and B frames. No true G images, that is obtained through a green filter, were obtained. I did that based on the fact that surface data (albedo markings and dust) would be present in the R image and atmospheric data would mostly concentrate in the B image.

Lorenzo Comolli, Gruppo Astronomico Tradatese, Tradate (VA), Italy. Email: comolli@dido.net
ST-4 camera; 8-inch (20 cm) Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope; Projection at f/27.

21:30 U.T.; CM: 280°
Average of 20 images; Elaborated with Qmips32 v1.8.

J. Porto, Azores

15

Donald C. Parker, Coral Gables, Florida
Lynxx PC camera, 16-in (41cm) f/6 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection @ f/47.8

Integration Times:
   Blue (BG12 + IR Rejection)    11.50-13.50s
   Green (VG9 + IR Rejection)    4.38-5.25s
   Red (RG610 + IR Rejection)   0.38-0.43s
Images flat and dark corrected.
Seeing good (7-8). Transparency 4.0m, variable: haze. Wind W 1-4 knots.
Violet clearing 2-3+, both hemispheres. Hazes over Chryse Bright morning limb clouds over Xanthe and Tempe. Syrtis blue cloud. North Polar Cap (NPC) rift again noted, possibly Chasma Borealis with Ierne dull to the west of the NPC. Hydrae S. prominent. Streaks in Chryse noted -- possibly Hydapses and Indus.

Daniel M. Troiani, ALPO Mars Section Coordinator, Chicago, Illinois, E-mail: dantroiani@earthlink.net
18" f/6 Newtonian, 485x.

05:56-06:18; CM: 43°; D_e: 21.38°
Filters: W#80a, W#47, W#25
Seeing: 10/10;  Transparency: 6/6
Blue Clearing (0-3): 3

Observing Site: Massai Point; Chiricahua National Monument; Willcox, AZ; (Southeast Arizona) Elevation: 6,870'.

Daniel M. Troiani, ALPO Mars Section Coordinator, Chicago, Illinois, E-mail: dantroiani@earthlink.net
18" f/6 Newtonian, 485x.

08:56-09:10; CM: 87°; D_e: 21.38°
Filters: W#80a, W#47, W#25
Seeing: 10/10;  Transparency: 6/6
Blue Clearing (0-3): 2

Observing Site: Massai Point; Chiricahua National Monument; Willcox, AZ; (Southeast Arizona) Elevation: 6,870'.

Victor G. Tejfel, Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Physics, Fessenkov Astrophysical Institute, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan; E-mail: tejf@hotmail.com
ST-6V CCD camera; 24-in (60 cm) Cassegrain.

António Cidadão, Oeiras, Portugal
ST-5C camera 10-in (25cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain

Seeing conditions: 5/10 (slightly worse than on the previous session).

The camera was used in low-res mode (2x binning, that is 20 micrometer square "super"-pixels) except for the initial R frame (21:44 UT), also shown for comparison.

Haze over Hellas. Clouds over Elysium, Aethiopis and Moab. Hint of Syrtis blue cloud. Cloud or frost over Lemuria region, near North Polar cap region (Olympia?). Cloud over Utopia, not observed on the images obtained in 99/05/14.

J. Porto, Azores

J. Porto, Azores

16

David M. Moore, Phoenix, Arizona;
E-mail: davidpaulamoore@email.msn.com

Seeing was very steady, but it is starting to get hot down here. Those nasty little localized heat pockets kept the image a bit fuzzy.

Denis Fell, New Sweden, Alberta, Canada (113.16°W, 52.55°N), email:dfell@telusplanet.net
Astrovid 1000 CCD camera, 8-in (20cm) f/10 SCT, Negative projection f/30, Wratten #21 orange filter. Processed with Snappy, SuperFix and Micrografx Photomagic.

04:00 UT, CM: 357°.
Martian diameter 15.60", L_s: 139.57°; D_e: 21.58, Phase 0.974

Seeing: Antoniadi II.
Darkest features Mare Acidalium, Niliacus Lacus, Sinus Meridianii very sharp and dark in good moments, Aeria contrastingly very bright. North is up.

Richard W. Wilhelm, Manorville, New York.
8" (20.3 cm) f/6 Newtonian.

Seeing: 7, transparency: 5.
Evening limb decidedly brighter than morning, with haze/clouds observed over Aeria and Noachis. Extensive haze seen over southern-most regions of Chalce and Argyroporos, particularly strong in green light. Haze/clouds over Candor on morning side with an isolated bright patch observed over Tempe. Primary albedo features were strong in both blue and green light. Sinus Meridiani exhibited the classic two-pronged fork. Oxia Palus and Juventae Fons seen as narrow northward-reaching extensions of Mare Erythraeum group. Niliacus Lacus and Mare Acidalium separated by a brighter Achillis Pons. North Polar Cap very bright and surrounded by a dark collar, contrasting sharply with the adjacent desert region.

This is the first drawing made through my new 8" Newtonian reflector. Although the level of detail seen was obviously greater than through my 4.5", what made the greatest impression was the increase in contrast between light and dark areas. I hope to do drawings comparing views from each telescope during the same observing session to gain a more quantitative understanding of performance vs. aperture with respect to Mars observation.

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

05:30 UT, CM: 23°.

17

Richard W. Wilhelm, Manorville, New York.
8" (20.3 cm) f/6 Newtonian.

Seeing: 7/10, transparency: 5/6.
Bright cloud over Libya on evening limb. Hellas bright, but not as intense as during April appearance. Some haze observed in southern-most region. Cloud/haze seen over Chryse on morning limb, very bright but small in size. Very bright area noted over Tempe on northwest limb, also limited in size. Albedo features subdued in blue light, in contrast to 5/16 observation. NPC bright with dark surrounding collar.

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:10 UT, CM: 344°.

Frank J. Melillo, Holtsville, New York, FrankJ12@aol.com

	Tomio Akutsu, Japan; E-mail: is6t-akt@asahi-net.or.jp 32cm F/6.5 Reflector Telers2 KAF0400E CCD

Rudolf A. Hillebrecht, Bad Gandersheim, Germany
SBIG ST-5 camera, SBIG filterwheel; 7-inch f/9 Starfire Refractor, Eypiece Projection @ f/50

20:56 UT (CM: 316°, left)
22:45 UT (CM: 342°, right)

Integration Times:
   Blue (+ IR Rejection)    1.00 s
   Green (+ IR Rejection)  0.40 s
   Red (+ IR Rejection)     0.20 s
Images are flat corrected.

Seeing only partially fair (3-4/10). All RGB images are result of adding several images of each color. Processing with MaxEnt in MaximDL.
South Polar Hood comes into view over Eridania/Ausonia. More yellowish than white cloud at Elysium. Limb clouds over Amazonis in right image. North Polar Cap remnant hardly distinguishable probably due to the bad seeing. Violet clearing still evident.

Jean-François Mourron, Toulouse, France, E-mail: j.f.mourron@wanadoo.fr
6" (15 cm) f/10 Intes-Micro M603 Maksutov and a Philips color video CCD camera.

21:40 UT, CM: 226°.

Damian Peach, United Kingdom

Red Light Sketch: Syrtis Major Dark, as is Mare Tyrrhenum, Hesperia well defined, Hyblaeus broad and dark, Trivium-Cerberus very faint, Nodus Alcyonius barely detected, Utopia dark, NPC dark collar well defined, Elysium seen as a small white spot, only moderatly bright. Hellas moderatly to very bright.

Blue Light Sketch: Hellas cloud very bright and large, Elysium bright on the eveing limb, forming an eveing limb haze extending South across to Aeolis, NPC small and bright, moderate to strong violet clearing (Southern Hemisphere), particularly over Syrtis Major-Mare Tyrrhenum, much weaker across Utopia.

18

David M. Moore, Phoenix, Arizona;
E-mail: davidpaulamoore@email.msn.com

Donald C. Parker, Coral Gables, Florida
Lynxx PC camera, 16-in (41cm) f/6 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection @ f/47.8

Integration Times:
   Blue (BG12 + IR Rejection)     13.26s
   Green (VG9 + IR Rejection)    4.88s
   Red (RG610 + IR Rejection)   0.41s
Images flat and dark corrected.
Seeing fair (5); post cold front. Transparency 5+m. Wind W 0-3 knots. Seeing variable, fair (5-7). Transparency 0-5.0m, variable with frequent clouds -- actually light rain shower during observation! Wind NNE 0-2 kts.
Moderate violet clearing 1-2+, both hemispheres. Syrtis blue cloud. Light clouds over Aeria and Eden. Hellas dull in red but bright cloud in green and blue.

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:22 UT, CM: 339°.

Robert J. Stekelenburg, Enschede, Netherlands, E-mail: rjstek@knoware.nl

Video CCD camera B&W, sensitivity 1 Lux, PAL 'Off the shelf', Libretto Laptop with Nogatech Capturevision PCMCIA Video Card, 4.5" (11.4 cm) Newton Telescope.

20:43 UT (observing period 20:33 UT - 20:53 UT)

Seeing bad, about 2 on a scale 0=very bad .. 5=best. Transparency about 4th magnitude, Windy.

Recorded 14 AVI videos in 16 bit 555RGB format, 30 frames each in 10 seconds. Images deformed and unstable, due to bad seeing. From each AVI movie separate bitmaps are produced. From a total of about 420 images, 190 images where used for the final result. I wrote my own software to enlarge and combine the separate pictures for further processing. Techniques used are unsharp mask, deconvolution and sharpening.

Right to the rim Syrtis Major should be visible. This is not as pronounced as I had expected. Furthermore the darker area in the middle I cannot explain: it cannot be found on a simulation picture or any pictures on this site.

Nelson Falsarella, Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, BRAZIL; E-mail: nfalsarella@riopreto.com.br
International Mars Patrol, Rede de Astronomia Observacional, REA-Brazil
AVA ASTROVID 400 CCD Videocamera; 8-in (20cm) f/6.5 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection with a MEADE Series 3000 Plossl 5mm.

António Cidadão, Oeiras, Portugal
ST-5C camera 10-in (25cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain

Seeing conditions: 5/10.

The middle R (23:53 UT) and B (23:55 UT) images were obtained with the camera at low-res mode (2x binning, that is 20 micrometer square "super"-pixels).

Haze over Hellas. Clouds over Elysium, Aethiopis and Moab. Syrtis blue cloud. ECB visible on blue images. Cloud or frost over Lemuria region, near North Polar cap region (Olympia?).

19

Nelson Falsarella, Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, BRAZIL; E-mail: nfalsarella@riopreto.com.br
International Mars Patrol, Rede de Astronomia Observacional, REA-Brazil
AVA ASTROVID 400 CCD Videocamera; 8-in (20cm) f/6.5 Newtonian, Eyepiece Projection with a MEADE Series 3000 Plossl 5mm.

António Cidadão, Oeiras, Portugal
ST-5C camera 10-in (25cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain

Seeing conditions: 6-7/10.

The first R (21:31 UT) and B (21:39 UT) images were obtained with the camera at low-res mode (2x binning, that is 20 micrometer square "super"-pixels).

Lots of atmospheric detail with the blue filter. Clouds over Elysium, Aethiopis Utopia, Panchaia, Cecropia, Libya. Very evident Syrtis blue cloud, extending over Libya almost up to the Elysium region. South polar hood? Cloud or frost over Lemuria region, near North Polar cap region (Olympia?).

Cerberus visible. Hyblaeus Extension and Propontis Complex quite evident

Damian Peach, United Kingdom

Red Light Sketch: Dark Albedo features appear normal. Hellas cloud seen to extend into a South Polar Haze (SPH.) Elysium moderatly bright, Hyblaeus dark, Trivium - Cerberus seen as a faint streak, Propontis seen on the Evening limb, Nodus Alcyonius seen as a dark to dusky streak, darker at its northern end. Hesperia well defined. North Polar Cap (NPC) bright with a dark collar.

Blue Light Sketch: SPH extending from Hellas on the morning limb very bright, Elysium bright, NPC also bright, again a moderate violet clearing is noted, particularly in the Southern hemisphere over Syrtis Major and Mare Tyrrhenum.

Unfiltered Sketch: Very much as Red light, other than cloud features are more distinct. Arctic haze or ice seen over Northern Lemuria, which was distinct in steady momments.

20

Mark Schmidt, Racine, Wisconsin; 88.02861° W 44.72889° N; E-mail: rasastro@wi.net
ST-5C CCD camera; 6-in (15 cm) f/9 Astro-Physics Starfire 152 Refractor; Projection at f/90.

 L_s: 141.4°; D_e: 21.5°; Diameter: 15.4”

Left to Right:

Time (U.T.)	C. M.	Integration time	Seeing	Transparency:	-------------------  F i l t e r s ---------------------
02:33	308.78°	3.5s	#3-4/10	0 mag.	Near IR 800 - 1100nm, IR Passing/Visible Rejection
03:23	320.96°	2.1s	#5/10	4 mag.	Near IR 800 - 1100nm, IR Passing/Visible Rejection
03:35	323.89°	2.2s	#6/10	4 mag.	Near IR 800 - 1100nm, IR Passing/Visible Rejection
03:56	329.0°	2.2s	#6-7/10	4 mag.	Near IR 800 - 1100nm, IR Passing/Visible Rejection

Filters: Murnaghan Instruments Filters.
Processing: CCDSoft-Image Processing Software; Skypro-Image Processing Software
I took the image through solid high thin clouds

Ramiro Hernandez, Saltillo, Mexico, E-mail: rhernand@campus.sal.itesm.mx
Sony Handycam camcorder and Snappy frame grabber; 8-inch (20 cm) f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade

03:28 UT (left and middle), CM=322, 02:38 UT (right),CM=310

Brad Hoehne,  Columbus, Ohio, E-mail: HoehneB@chi.osu.edu
8" (20 cm) f/6.75 Newtonian, 5 mm LV, 275x. W 25 Red filter.

03:40 UT

This is an image of Mars drawn through my telescope from my backyard in urban Columbus, Ohio. Seeing was slightly better than average. The north polar cap seems to be a touch smaller and fainter than on May 10. There is a strong dark band around the polar cap that seems to have the lowest albedo of any other visible part of the planet. This may be a contrast effect. The terminator was visible to me for the first time. I suspected that the limb haze near the terminator was slightly bluish.

Robert C. Kuberek, Valencia, California
SX MX5-C CCD, 6" (15cm) Astrophysics Refractor @ f/21.

Tomio Akutsu, Japan; E-mail: is6t-akt@asahi-net.or.jp
32cm F/6.5 Reflector Telers2 KAF0400E CCD

Rudolf A. Hillebrecht, Bad Gandersheim, Germany
SBIG ST-5 camera, SBIG filterwheel; 7-inch f/9 Starfire Refractor, Eypiece Projection @ f/50

20:06 UT (CM: 206°, left)
20:32 UT (CM: 212°, center)
20:47 UT (CM: 216°, right)

Integration Times:
   Blue (+ IR Rejection)    1.50 s
   Green (+ IR Rejection)  0.40 s
   Red (+ IR Rejection)     0.20 s
Images are flat corrected.

Seeing only partially fair (3-4/10) for the first two images, fair (5/10) for the last. All RGB images are result of adding several images of each color. Processing with MaxEnt in MaximDL.
South Polar Hood comes into view south of Mare Sirenum. Limb brightening in images one and two may be result of processing (see green image!)?. Local cloud over Arcadia. Haze shows up near Elysium/Aetheria. Elysium itself without its usual clouds. North Polar Cap remnant even smaller than in the last weeks. Violet clearing remains evident.

J. Porto, Azores

Damian Peach, United Kingdom

Unfiltered Sketch: Dark Albedo markings appear dark and normal. Again a South Polar Haze (SPH) extending out from Hellas on the Morning Limb, also extending over Mare Tyrrhenum into Libya. Elysium moderatly bright. Morning Limb Haze (MLH) seen extending over Aeria. Blue Syrtis Cloud Prominently seen. North Polar Cap (NPC) bright with dark collar.

Blue Light Sketch: Described SPH is bright, Elysium bright, NPC also bright. Moderate violet clearing again noted over the Syrtis Major region. Styx possibly detected?

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