stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Mars opposition and I wish I could have collected more. Any help on improving my skills ? This is a real bugger to get processed and yes ! I forgot to flip it ! So, have a go and let me know how I can improve?

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CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I think you have done a great job.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Thanks Craig , I'm trolling for advice too improve my processing skills, 3 months off and with this boil on my{ keester} , I know that I ought to have the polar cap showing better.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Aren't there filters that help pull out the Polar Caps??? With an 8" scope you should be able to pull in enough light to use them.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Craig , my Levenhuk T51ONG comes with an IR filter in front of the 1/2" sensor. So it should be pulling it out. Yes, 8 in. is more than capable of revealing all kinds if landscape.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Looks good. What is the star below and to the left? If I knew the date and time and where this was taken at, I could figure it out.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I can't offer up anything except to keep trying. And if it gets to be trying, find a way to make it interesting again.
I've been picking a target, then work on getting days of images. And improving on what I'm getting.
I'm down tonight. Just too darn tired to drag out and set up. Rough day, and several up very late nights have caught up to me.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

At a guess I would guess it's one of the moons of Mars, either Phobos or Deimos. Just a guess though.

Great image BTW
Matthew

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I doubt it is a moon of Mars. The larger of the two is 10 miles long and shaped like a potato. And is only about 3600 miles above Mars. This is like one Mars diameter away from the planet. The two moons weren't even discovered until 1877 and it took a telescope much larger than what this was taken with.

If I can get the exact time and date of the image, and the location from where it was taken, I can probably figure it out.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

It was captured on 6/ 25 @11:37 pm from Kings mountain , NC with a digital telescope cam{usb} 5mmfl with a 10mm extension lens and a 5x power mate , I've got to do it this way until xmas and B-day then I'll have a t ring adapter to attach my power mate directly to the cam.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Thanks Matthew and SonnyE it's been a month since I've been able to image with all this volcanic heat , humidity and evening storms. I've been working on my data from the Winter to get ready for Orion and Andromeda hopefully I'll collect awesome data with guiding , if I can pick pick a good star to guide on without it not moving enough or it getting lost up there. ha ha !

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I have set StarryNight for Jun 25th at 11:37PM from North Carolina.

I don't know your actual orientation nor the field of view as you took the image, but here is what StarryNight shows. At 2 o'clock, very close to Mars is Phobos with a magnitude of 11.42. At 8 o'clock, the first thing you encounter is Deimos at a magnitude of 12.51.

At 4 o'clock, 10 arc minutes away is star of magnitude 9.9. At 3 o'clock is a star at magnitude 8.25 at 15 arc minutes away. At 10 o'clock is a star at magnitude 8.37 at 7 arc minutes away. At 6 o'clock is a magnitude 10.46 at 5 arc minutes away.

I have also broadened my view and at that time, there are no bright stars near Mars.

What we need is a way to calibrate your field of view to measure how wide it is. One good object to look at is Epsilon Lyrae which is a well known double star 1 deg from Vega. This double star is 3 arc minute apart from each other if you could image those stars for comparison purposes. Another thing to try, is to take another shot with exactly the same settings as your Mars shot to see how dim we can still see stars.

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stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Sorry Jim , I've been involve obsessively in trying to get my Starry night special Orion edition telescope control to link up to my lxd55. It's almost another year trying to attempt this darn thing, I just don't understand why it's not connecting. Do you think you could offer some good ole advice to get mine telescope control going? I would be as thankful as a Thanksgiving turkey pardoned for the year. I haven't been out for 1 1/2 months due to the Wildfires and clouds. It's gotta get better than this ! I shot this with a weird set up because I haven't figured how to get the 10mm lens off and fit the camera in the focuser. So it's 10mm extension and a 5x powermate @ opposition .

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I don't think I'm much help here. I haven't been controlling the telescope with StarryNight.