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

---

Instructions for Placing Images and Text on the MarsWatch FTP Site.

In order to transfer images to be verified and placed on the MarsWatch website, we have set up a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. This server is convenient and fast, and only requires a few instructions to help you get started. After you have finished uploading your images, please send and e-mail to both the webmaster and Jim Bell.

You can also e-mail your images to webmaster@astroleague.org, though the ftp server is preferred.

If you are browsing this site using Netscape Navigator 3.0 or better, you can go to the FTP site and upload your files directly from the browser. Once you have reached the site, you can drag-and-drop the file(s) from a Windows Explorer window to the Netscape Browser window. You will be asked if you want to upload the dragged file(s) to the FTP server. Click OK and your file(s) will be uploaded. Go there now!

If you are using MS Internet Explorer, you will need to have a separate FTP utility, such as Fetch. If you do not have an FTP utility, go to http://www.shareware.com, and follow the directions there to acquire one.

If using an FTP utility, the machine's address is ftp://ftp.astroleague.org. Log in as "anonymous" with your e-mail address as your password. Go to the incoming directory (do NOT go to the marswatch directory, this is for ftp downloading only). Incoming is where you place your files.

If at all possible, please send all images as JPEG or GIF format (and add the appropriate extension to each file). These formats are the most universal and allow us to quickly view, verify and post them to the MarsWatch website. If you send a file of a different type, please indicate this by the extension you use for the file (".tif" for TIFF, ".pic" for PICT, etc.).

When sending an image, please name it "YYYY-MM-DD-OOOA.FOR". Where YYYY is the UT year of observation, MM is the month number, DD is the day number, OOO is your observer code, usually your first, middle, and last initial. A is a letter for multiple images on the same day (start from "A", then "B", etc.). "FOR" is the standard image format suffix (e.g. jpg, gif, tif, etc.). This will make the work of posting your image on the website and the ftp area much easier.

Be sure to include an ASCII text description of this image and name this text file the same as your image file, with the extension ".txt" (this way we can keep images and descriptions together). The description only need be one or two sentences long.

And that's it! If you have any problems uploading, you can e-mail the Astronomical League webmaster at the address below. Good luck and happy observing!

Return to the Marswatch 1998-1999 Homepage.