Mars in 2012 Page 2 Home

Mars reached opposition on 3 March 2012.

On this page I present a comparison of pictures taken with my DFK 21AF01 colour camera and with my ToUcam 840K with ×2 SLR lens that I have used in previous years.  These pictures were taken 15 nights after those on page 1 and, unfortunately, Mars had rotated so that a less-detailed part of the surface was showing.  The simulation below from Calsky shows how it should look through a 10-inch telescope.  The time at which I took each picture is indicated below and to the right of the image.

12th March 2012.

This simulation shows Mars as it should appear in a 10-inch telescope at 00:36 UT on 12th March 2012 which is about half-way through my observing session.  Move your mouse pointer over the image to see some of the major features identified.
    Firstly, the reference images taken with the ToUcam 840K with a ×2 SLR adaptor lens.  On the left is the image in visible light and on the right is the image in infra-red imaged with the ToUcam in monochrome mode.  This is the only picture I took in IR but I often found I got the best pictures in infra-red and it does show a few of the features more clearly than the colour image.
And now four pictures taken with the DFK camera at prime focus, with the ×2 SLR lens, the ×3 barlow, and the ×5 Powermate.
Finally, here are the same four pictures as above but reduced or enlarged to the size they would have been if imaged with the ×2 SLR lens that I have used in previous years.
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