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Unlike the Moon images, these are full size pictures.
Planets are very far away, and even at a focal length equivalent to about
577x, they're not all that big. The images are mostly black space; I've trimmed the ones
you see here.
Click here for
a map of Mars! (South is up in this map)
My best so far:
OCTOBER 23: My birthday Mars. Mars gave me a
nice treat, too! Not only was the air very steady for
a clear image, but we see an active dust storm!
Compare to the image from September and you'll
notice the bright area below the dark markings and
also the markings themselves aren't as "dark". This
whole region was quite active as we approached our
closest pass!
Other images of Mars:
I plan to take one each month to track the apparent size
increase of Mars as we approach "opposition". That's the point where
we are the closest to Mars. I'm expecting the planet to appear about
3x larger than the one taken in April! (Note: Due to moving and scope
problems, I missed May)
APRIL: We're just beginning to
approach Mars.
Very small, and little detail can be seen. It's
about
134million miles away and only 6.4 arc-seconds in
size.
JUNE: We're now 34million
miles closer to Mars. It
still lies 93million miles away, but it's
noticeably bigger
at 9 arc-seconds in diameter and detail can now
be seen
JULY: Mars is now 81million miles away! It's grown
in size noticeably in the past month and is now about 11
arc-seconds in size. Notice the Southern polar cap is
much smaller as the Martian summer approaches.
AUGUST: Details are standing out now! The light
colored spot on the bottom-right of the planet (above
the white ice cap) is a feature called Hellas. Mars is
67million miles away and is now 13 arc-seconds in size!
SEPTEMBER: One month to go before closest approach!
This shot has a bit of trivia: the rover Opportunity's site is
dead center. Mars is 16.6 arc-seconds in size and lies only
52 million miles from Earth.
OCTOBER 13: Two weeks to go! Figured I'd post
one
more before closest approach, mainly because this one has
Olympus Mons, the Solar System's largest volcano in it (little
spot on the right half way between the equator and N. pole).
Mars is 45million miles away and 19.25 arc-seconds in size!
October 29: Here it is! Our closest approach to
Mars
until 2018. Here we see it from 44million miles away
and just over 20 arc-seconds in size! We're seeing
the same side as we did on August 20, 2005
.
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