---

                                                                                                                    MARS
   
                                        

---

• Object: Mars- It's closest approach in thousands of years is to happen in August of this year.  A giant dust storm is starting in the Hellas Basin which is at the top right near the limb, below the lighter south polar region (south is up).  The dark band across the sothern hemisphere is Cimmeria Terra and Terra Tyrrhenna (left to right).  The two dark spots in the north are the Tholus region  left and Elysium Planetia on the right.
• Date: July 11, 2003, 4:30 am
• Location: Backyard, Seattle, Wa.
• Telescope:  Takahashi FSQ-106 @ f/8 with TV 3x barlow
• Mount: Losmandy G-11
• Camera:  Creative Labs Webcam Pro Ex @ 640 x 480 resolution
• Images:  3 x 300 .bmp images @ 1/50 shutter speed using Astrosnap shareware. Stacked and processed with Registax shareware. PS 6 and SGBNR for final touches.
• Comments: Seeing about 7/10   Can't wait for OSP for real good seeing conditions.  Very easy software to use and they both work great (Astrosnap and Registax).     

                      Interactive Mars map link:   http://www.dartmouth.edu/~humbio01/Frame.html

                      Back to planetary page