Astronomy Picture of the Day 8-19-03

NASA ^ | 8-19-03 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2003 August 19

Mars Through a Small Telescope
Credit & Copyright: Francisco A. Rodriguez Ramirez (AstroEduca)

Explanation: How does Mars appear through a small telescope? Viewed with the unaided eye or through a small telescope, possibly the most striking part of Mars' appearance is its red color. The color derives from rust, iron oxide, which composes perhaps 10% of the Martian soil. The oxygen that rusts the surface iron on Mars originates predominantly from carbon dioxide gas, which composes 95% of the Martian atmosphere. Mars nears its closest approach with Earth in nearly 60 millennia on August 27, the red planet continues to appear larger, brighter, and a good target for sky enthusiasts. Pictured above, Mars was captured from the Canary Islands of Spain during three days in three different orientations earlier this month. Visible through the small telescope are white polar caps of water and carbon-dioxide ice, light red areas rich in lightly colored craters, and dark red areas dominated by relatively smooth lowlands.

[petuniasevan]

Note that the above image uses the European date format: dd/mm/yy.

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Here are the details for the above image from the AstroEduca website (translation mine):

...

Imágenes - Agosto 2003 (Images - August 2003)

Equipo Observacional (Observational Equipment): Telescopio (Telescope) S/C Celestron 8 [d:203mm F:2000mm f/10]. Lente barlow (Barlow lens) x2. WebCam Toucam Pro. Laptop Celeron 1,2Gz - 256 Mb RAM .

Software: VRecord Philips - Registax - Photoshop 6.0

Lugar (Location): Observatorio Amateur Montaña Cabreja (Mt. Cabreja Amateur Observatory) [ 28ºN 15ºW ]. Vega de San Mateo (Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias [Canary Islands], España [Spain])

Secuencia de imágenes obtenidas los días 1, 5 y 9 de agosto. Todas las imágenes están realizadas entre la 1:00 y 2:00 TU. Cada una se ha obtenido tras la suma y procesamiento de 500 frames individuales con registax y ajuste con Photoshop 6.0 .

(The sequence of images was obtained on the 1st, 5th, and 9th of August. All the images were recorded between the hours of 1:00 and 2:00 Universal Time. Each one was obtained after stacking and processing the sum of 500 individual frames using Registax software and adjusting with Photoshop 6.)

[petuniasevan]

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Some friends and I are having a telescope party this Saturday to observe Mars - hope the weather holds out!

BTTT

[theDentist]

Mars thru the haze of a bottle of Scotch. :-)

[RightWhale]

Finally saw Mars. There were 4 other stars visible. Mars was very low about 20 degrees east of south, 10 degrees elevation. Bright, but not as red as formerly, that is, the color was not so saturated, pale red, the color of candy peanuts.