Solar & Planetary LtE Now in March 2022

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¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 1 April 0336UT RGB IR

Received: 1 April 2022 at 16:43 JST

 

Hi all,

Image set from this morning.

Solis Lacus is at upper left. Some light afternoon equatorial cloud can be seen near the terminator.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220401/CFs01Apr22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 31 March 0420UT RGB IR

Received: 31 March 2022 at 22:13 JST

 

Hi all,

This morning’s session started off badly with an aborted Mars session due to terrible seeing. I returned to Mars as the sky lightened, and found some better conditions.

Olympus Mons is near lower centre, with M Sirenum at upper right and Solis Lacus is again coming into view at upper left. I believe it is Arsia Mons that appears to show as a light spot near the centre.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220331/CFs31Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: RE: Mars 29 March 0401UT RGB IR

Received: 29 March 2022 at 23:55 JST

 

Thanks for the comments Roger.

Always best to have more than one set of images , off course, so let me see if I can catch Mars tomorrow morning. At this stage low cloud is forecast, but I always check.

I’ve seen horizontal clouds in the north like this previously, but Mars is still small, and I am wary of anything strange near the limbs!

Cheers, Clyde

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: RE: Mars 29 March 0401UT RGB IR

Received: 29 March 2022 at 22:12 JST

 

Clyde --

As you probably know, when a "cloud" is brighter in green light than in blue, we often think of it as a low-lying fog or ground frost, and of course it could be both a high cloud plus low-lying condensations. At the Tharsis Montes, one naturally thinks of it as ground frost on the higher elevations there. One potentially misleading factor in this simple assessment is that there may be differences in the processing of green versus blue images. If you are sure that you process them the same, you can decide the matter for sure.

-- Roger

 

Roger VENABLE (Chester, GA )

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 29 March 0401UT RGB IR

Received: 29 March 2022 at 17:33 JST

 

Hi all,

I was again trying to snatch data between clouds this morning. Olympus Mons is near the lower centre, with afternoon cloud over the Tharsis Montes persisting. The possible northern horizontal "cloud" in green and the bright spot at lower right (possible dust activity near the northern limb) would need to be independently verified.

Anyone interested in the rather unpleasant edge artefact, so often seen with Mars images, can find more information in a highly informative, interesting and comprehensive article by Martin Lewis: https://skyinspector.co.uk/mars-edge-artefact/

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220329/CFs29Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 28 March 0338UT RGB IR

Received: 28 March 2022 at 17:20 JST

 

Hi all,

I didn't expect to get anything out this morning as there was almost total low cloud cover. However there were some moments where it thinned enough for me to catch data. This is another set from single best captures. M Sirenum is at upper centre, with Olympus Mons at lower left. There appears to be afternoon orographic clouds over Arsia Mons and Pavonis Mons near the terminator.

Although I can artificially remove the edge artefact, I am deliberately leaving it as it is for the time being, so as not to bring in any additional artificial artefacts.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220328/CFs28Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Re: Mars 27 March 0340UT RGB IR

Received: 28 March 2022 at 14:31 JST

 

Hi Clyde,

It will be interesting to see when the number of orographic clouds decreases over the Tharsis volcanoes as the NPH forms over the artic in the Fall season that has just started. 

Good seeing, Jim

 

Jim MELKA (Chesterfield, MO)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 27 March 0340UT RGB IR

Received: 27 March 2022 at 19:24 JST

 

Hi all,

I had variable seeing this morning with some cloud interference. The RGB is produced from the single best channel images. Unfortunately the longer wavelength channels are severely affected by edge artefact, which is likely exacerbated by the eastern boundary of Elysium (Phlegra, Trivium Charontis and Cerberus) being very close to the limb. Olympus Mons is at lower left, with some nice late afternoon equatorial cloud over the Tharsis Montes region

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220327/CFs27Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 24 March 0344UT RGB IR

Received: 24 March 2022 at 23:31 JST

 

Hi all,

Image set from this morning with Amazonis close to centre,

M Sirenum at upper left, M Cimmerium at upper right, Elysium at lower right and Propontis at bottom centre. It still amazes me how extensive the SPC is (possibly with some residual hood?).

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220324/CFs24Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 21 March 0353UT RGB IR

Received: 21 March 2022 at 16:05 JST

 

Hi all,

I again had to find gaps in the extensive cloud cover and this set is made up from single captures.

M Cimmerium is above centre, and it is interesting that the S Gomer extensions are still not evident. Elysium is just to the left of lower centre.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220321/CFs21Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 20 March 0358UT RGB IR

Received: 20 March 2022 at 17:22 JST

 

Hi all,

After nearly a week of cloudy mornings, I managed to catch Mars this morning, albeit through extensive moving cloud, with the histogram swinging wildly. AS3! again did a wonderful job of extracting the best data.

M Cimmerium and Hesperia cut across the upper centre of the planet, with M Tyrrhenum and Syrtis Minor to their right. Syrtis Major is on the right limb and Elysium is at lower left. Mars has attained 5" in size.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220320/CFs20Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars Sketch 18 March 2022

Received: 19 March 2022 at 22:31 JST

 

Hello,

I hope you all are well.  Here is my first sketch of Mars for this apparition.  I managed to see a little detail on the very small disk in the brief period of decent seeing during morning twilight and shortly after sunrise.  The best view was in IL and with the magenta filter.

 

Michael Rosolina

2022/03/18   1130 UT

CM: 357.6  Ls: 193 De: -17.9 Dia: 5.0"

35cm SCT f/11 @ 326x   ZWO ADC   Filters: W30 & IL

S: 4-6/10 P   T: 5/6 

 

Thank you,

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220318/MRs18Mar22.png

 

Michael ROSOLINA (Friars Hill, WV )

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Re: Mars 14 March 0331UT RGB IR

Received: 15 March 2022 at 10:57 JST

 

Hi Clyde,

It looks like airborne dust has expanded over most of Hellas. However the dark features

East, North and West of Hellas are not changing. Good work.

Jim

 

Jim MELKA (Chesterfield, MO)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 14 March 0331UT RGB IR

Received: 14 March 2022 at 15:46 JST

 

Hi all,

Image set from this morning with Syrtis Major and Hellas well placed. Although the light feature in the SW of Hellas that was evident in yesterday’s image is not as noticeable, the lightness across the basin makes me suspect widespread dust activity. Any interpretation of features near the bright limb should be done with caution due to the edge artefact.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220314/CFs14Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 13 March 0323UT RGB IR

Received: 13 March 2022 at 18:24 JST

 

Hi all,

After a string of cloudy mornings, I was able to catch Mars this morning with Syrtis Major prominent.

There may be some dust activity in Hellas, most notable in its south western region.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220313/CFs13Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: RE: Mars 7 March 0329UT RGB IR

Received: 11 March 2022 at 22:52 JST

 

Hi all,

I see that my Mars image set of 7 March does not appear on some of the databases/sites, so I am not sure if it circulated properly.

I am resending just in case. My original email below.

Best regards, Clyde

 

From: Clyde Foster <clyde@icon.co.za>
Sent:
07 March 2022 11:12 AM
Subject: Mars 7 March 0329UT RGB IR

 

Hi, all

After a few cloudy mornings, I had some reasonable conditions this morning. S Meridiani is central with S Sabeaus extending to the left. There appears to be some equatorial cloud on the bright/following limb.

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220307/CFs07Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Recent images

Received: 8 March 2022 at 04:05 JST

 

Hi all,

Here are a few more recent images.....

 

NGC 3576 in RGB:


 

http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/ngc3576_2022_01_05dp.jpg

20"CDK with FLI camera. LRGB. 2hrs total.

 

 

Globular cluster NGC 5286:


 

http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/ngc5286_2022_02_28dp.jpg

24"CDK with FLI camera. LRGB. 1.5hrs total.

 

 

The Whirlpool Galaxy:


 

 http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/m51_2021_07_03dp.jpg

24"CDK with FLI camera. LRGB. 3.5hrs total.

 

 

Narrowband Tarantula Nebula:


 

http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/ngc2070_2022_01_05dp.jpg

24"CDK with FLI camera. Ha_OIII_SII. 16hrs total.

 

Best wishes,

 

Damian PEACH (Selsey, WS, the UK)

Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 4 March 0405UT RGB IR

Received: 4 March 2022 at 17:01 JST

 

Hi all,

I had to wait for the clouds to clear in brightening sky this morning for this image set. Chryse is close to centre with the Indus/Oxia extension quite prominent. Niliacus Lacus and M Acidalium are at lower centre, with M Erythraeum extending across the upper hemisphere of the planet. Aurorae Sinus is at centre right and S Meridiani at centre left.

 

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220304/CFs04Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Venus images from 3 January to 1 March 2022

Received: 2 March 2022 at 23:04 JST

 

Venus images in 2022.

 

3, 4 January 2022


 

7, 8 January 2022


 

9 January 2022


 

22, 25 January 2022


 

1 February 2022

*

 

1 March 2022


 

Best regards,

 

Tomio AKUTSU (Ibaraki, JAPAN)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 1 March 0335UT RGB IR

Received: 2 March 2022 at 17:04 JST

 

Hi all,

A poor quality set from yesterday morning in poor seeing, when a brief gap in clouds only allowed single captures of R, G, B and IR. Aurorae Sinus is close to centre, with M Erythraeum extending across most of the upper portion of the planet. Solis Lacus is at upper right. Anyway, submitting for the record.

 

Best regards, Clyde

 

https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220301/CFs01Mar22.png

 

Clyde FOSTER (Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA)

 

 

 

¤¤••••• Subject: The CICLOPS Legacy Website ... and an Epilogue for commemoration

Received: 2 March 2022 at 05:15 JST

 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

After nearly a quarter of a century, and over 4 years since the end of Cassini, the official Cassini Imaging Team website ...
 
                                   http://ciclops.org
... has been recast into its final legacy form and is retiring.   It has been converted from a dynamic site, built, with every click, one page at a time with information extracted from various databases, to a static one requiring no on-the-fly computation.  What it looks like today is the way it will look in perpetuity.

This has been a very big task and required my going through the site, correcting broken links and other mistakes, improving organization, making stylistic changes, and adding supporting materials.  And it required collecting together a team of volunteers, with skills in php, html, website configuration, cloud services, and operating systems, to convert and migrate it to the cloud.   The members of the CICLOPS Legacy Team are mentioned here: 
http://ciclops.org/webcredits.php.html

(In addition, assistance was freely given to migrate other software packages that I will be using in the future to write my book.  Yes, there will be a book ... eventually.)

I am very pleased to say that, as a result of a remarkable team effort over the last 2 months, all done remotely, the site is far better and faster than it ever was. 

To mark this big moment, I have today posted a final Captain's Log, appropriately called 'Epilogue', in which I remind us all of the intent for the site when it was first established in 1999, its various components, the highlights of the Cassini mission, and most importantly for us, the discoveries made by my imaging team members and I in 20 years of producing the visual record of our travels to and around Saturn. 

It was an extraordinary experience in every way.  It is worth remembering.

I hope that, in the future, you visit CICLOPS.org when you wish to recall that experience and those glorious years traveling Saturn.

Enjoy!

Carolyn Porco (UC Berkeley, CA)

Cassini Imaging Team leader
Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley, CA
Fellow, California Academy of Sciences
http://carolynporco.com

 


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