My best Mars yet, 11th Oct

[iceman]

Hi guys.
I love my 5x powermate. And I love good seeing. This morning I got up at 1am, hopeful for good conditions as the jetstream predictions were that it would be clear for a change.

I set the scope and platform up, put an eyepiece in, and could tell immediately that the seeing was good! Without wasting another moment, in went the ToUcam and the 5x powermate.

I could see straight away that the data I was capturing was my best yet, even the raw frames were fairly crisp.

While the seeing was good, I decided to re-do the experiment I tried a few weeks back - the IR filter versus no-IR filter debate. At first the results were inconclusive, but hopefully I've proved (to myself, at least) that the IR filter is a good thing. You can see from the blue channel without the IR filter that it's all a mess around the edges, and I couldn't align it properly. It's somewhat visible in the green channel, but not as much. With the IR filter in place, they're all properly aligned. I also still have the problem of white balance without the IR filter, I just can't get what I feel is the right colour.

I took an image with the 3x as well, just for kicks. Last week I would've been very happy with that image at 3x, but now i've got the 5x there's no looking back I love the larger image scale, it allows you to capture finer details.

Anyway i'm very happy with these images and it's been worth the 3 hours sleep a night, but i'm hoping for lots of jetstream for the next few days to let me get some rest I'm still not pleased with the colour, not as reddy/brown as I think it should be, but i'll work on that one next

Comments welcome.

[ozzmosis]

very fine pics my friend!!!

[H.Haeri]

Goooooooooooooooooooooood

[iceman]

Thanks!

Here's a reprocessed version, trying for a better colour balance.

[paul f. campbell]

Iceman both are nice 2nd has better color. That 5x powermate works great. Cant wait to see what Jupiter and Saturn look like. Keep them coming later Paul

[Wolverine]

Very nice shots.

[lizzie]

Great pics Iceman.