From David M MOORE
@. . . . . Masatsugu; We have not conversed before, though I know of you through
Don Parker and now with these dust storm communications. It is a pleasure to write to you. I am going to include three image sets I have
taken of the dust storm on "our side of the world over the past week. I live in
My current mode of imaging is by video and
digitized into computer. There is some definition lost with this type
medium. I also have a HX-5 CCD camera,
but the download is so slow I have opted not to use it until Starlight Express
sends me a USB kit, within the next week I hope. Still, I get better results on many nights
with video when the seeing is poor. I
had been using an automatic stacking program until several days ago when I
switched to manual stacking. You can
really see the difference and I apologize for the quality of the first series
of images I am sending. Still, I feel these images are of great value and hope
you find them useful.
Thank you
for keeping us all informed on the current dust storm events! Yes, by the way,
digital image processing is still more art form than science. Everyone has, like a fingerprint, their own
individual form of processing.
Thanks
(
@. . . . . . . . .Mars - July 15, 2001: This is a
little late. I had Reserve duty this
past weekend. Seeing conditions typical for Monsoon, not the best, but better
than with low humidity.
Albedos on Mars are weak with the
deserts on the CM quite bright in R and IR.
NPH still strong. With Temps increasing on Mars as reported by NASA, JPL
etc., will the NPH dissipate, get stronger, or be unaffected?
Thanks
(
@. . . . . . . . .Mars - July 18, 2001: Looks
like I am finally getting a handle on processing digital video! Too bad. I just received my USB port for the
HX-5. Just waiting on Fabio at AstroArt to get the software out. Hint, hint Fabio!
Images in
the R and IR seem to indicate a bit more ground penetration. Perhaps the dust
is settling in this area of Mars. Sinus Sabaeus appears much more visible tonight in the IR then
the image of the 15th. NPH appears
larger and brighter than the 15th as well.
Thanks
(
@. . . . . . . . Masatsugu:
Thank you for your kind remarks.
Yes
there are some strange things going on in this region! I was too tired last
night to image, but will be out tonight, weather permitting. Syrtis Major will
be on the CM tonight, and that is imaging Mars well past my CM. I fear this may be the last night for me to
image this area. I will be using my still camera tonight as my USB port
arrived. This will allow for fast
downloads. Hopefully it will give better
results than with video. If the seeing
is poor, I will switch back to video.
It
appears Don did miss the area. This is
how it will present itself to me tonight.
Still, it shows the beauty of the Parker/Moore combo. Don images earlier, plus there is a two hour
time difference. I image late when I get
home from work. This gives us good
coverage. Others in between us, who are
not as prolific of observers, fill in when we can't.
Thanks
(
@. . . . . . . . .Masatsugu:
The seeing was too poor to get images last night. I waited till local mid-night to get a
shot. Mars was over two hours past the
CM and too low at my latitude for further imaging. Sorry.
On the monitor I was able to see a portion of Meridiani Sinus or so it appeared.
Thanks
(
@. . . . . .Mars - July 22, 2001: A large
T-Storm to the South threw up some "blow -off" in my direction
resulting in some bumpy seeing. I had a
smaller F/ratio tonight as my 3x Barlow was being used in conjunction w/ the
HX-5. These are full sized images.
Despite these problems, this set turned out pretty well. Not real sharp, but features are seen through
the Martian dust and terrestrial bad seeing.
Visually
through my 125mm ETX at 380 x , Mars was virtually featureless w/o a
filter. At the monitor when comparing
last months video with now, all features (except the NPH and S limb hazes) are
far dimmer than last month. The storm may be over, but the settling of dust continues.
Thanks
(
@ . . . . . . . Subject: Mars - July 27, 2001: Though
the skies were clear, some fast, rippled seeing prevailed. Hence images are a bit soft, but still accurately
represents how Mars appeared last evening.
Time I get home from work in the evening, Mars is now well past the CM,
so am handicapped. I go back to days
next week, so will be able to image with Mars at the CM.
Took some
HX-5 images as well, but they were not as good. Thanks
(
@ . . . . . . . Subject: Mars IR, August 03, 2001： Was
able to get a shot through a small break in the Monsoon clouds.
Been socked in cloud-wise for a week. Seeing was a
bit turbulent, though still tolerable. Thanks
(
@ . . . . . . . Subject: Mars - August 05, 06, 2001:
Finally got to process these from two night efforts with so-so results. I
included the lone IR image from the 05th next to the 06th's IR image. There was
not one feature on Mars dark enough to manually align to, so had to use Astrostack. It
skewed several of the images, but is still a fair representation of what was
visible these two evenings. This is an incredible storm. Thanks
(
Dave MOORE (AZ,
