Mars 2020 is on its way.

 Mars, Solar System, Spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 012020
 

NASA’s Mars 2020 mission carrying the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter successfully launched on the 30th of July. The spacecraft is currently flying a trajectory that will miss Mars. This will force the Centaur upper stage that is on the same path to miss the planet. Over the next 60 days there will be two trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM-1 & TCM-2) that will turn Mars 2020 toward an intercept course. So right now, the spacecraft is still close enough to be visible in small telescopes and the path is known well enough to forecast its position.

I’ve been fighting clouds all month and they have been particularly successful in preventing decent images of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). Because the comet is not visible in the sky above the PTO due to its altitude and my tree line, I have to pack up portable equipment and move to a different location to try to get pictures. I do not have portable equipment with the capability necessary to image the spacecraft the way I want. Luckily, the spacecraft was visible in the sky above the PTO so I didn’t have to go anywhere. However, I did have to wait for it to clear the trees around 0230.

The image shows the NASA Mars 2020 spacecraft against a background of stars. The image is a negative view with the sky white and the stars and spacecraft dark. The spacecraft is a small dark spot in the center of the image. The telescope tracked the spacecraft which is why the stars are streaked from upper left to lower right.

Mars 2020 [CV:1x300s]

I generated an ephemeris for the craft using JPL’s HORIZONS software tool. This not only provides Mars 2020 position information but rate information as well. My mount control software can take advantage of the rate info and change the mount’s motion to track the spacecraft and not the sky. Tracking the spacecraft and not the sky is why the stars are streaked. I have been taking advantage of this capability during my planetary imaging sessions. This is the first time I have used it for spacecraft. I was hoping to get a series of images that I could combine into a short animation but the clouds got the last laugh after all.

This is the 3rd interplanetary craft I have been able to get pictures of. The previous two were during Earth gravity assist fly-bys.

 Posted by at 15:24

Jupiter & Io and Mars (14 Jul 2020)

 Jupiter, Mars, Planet, Solar System  No Responses »
Jul 162020
 

Clouds cleared fairly early the evening of the 14th. I took several series of Jupiter images , skipped Saturn and then waited for Mars to clear the tree line.

Jupiter had the GRS and its inner moon Io visible right off the bat. However, both were headed for obscurity. Io was on the far side of Jupiter and only 8 minutes from eclipse. The GRS hung around for another hour and twenty minutes before Jupiter’s rotation sent it to the far side.

Due to Jupiter’s fast rotation (9h 55m) each exposure must be fairly short to avoid smearing the cloud details. At my focal length I take a 40 second stream of data through each of the three color filters. There is a 5 second gap in between each to ensure the next filter has settled into place. Although there is no perceptible movement in the cloud tops, you can see how much Io has moved in 45 seconds since each of the color images is offset from the others. You can just see Io’s bright yellow color where the separate red, green and blue exposures overlap to produce the final color.

Jupiter & Io
[(V)R:1251×0.93ms;
G:1254×1.33ms;
B:1253×2.35ms]

Io (detail)
[(V)R:1251×0.93ms;
G:1254×1.33ms;
B:1253×2.35ms]

This Mars image is the result of some experimentation. My previous Mars pictures ended up with the southern ice cap very overexposed even though I adjusted the individual exposures short enough to prevent saturating the detector chip. The contrast between the ice cap and the rest of the planet was just too much to process out. So, this time I reduced the exposure duration quite a bit. This appears to have worked except for one small hot spot in the ice cap. The reduction also lets you see the ice cap is not symmetrical.

Mars
[(V)R:2739×0.22ms;
G:2738×0.44ms;
B:2741×1.01ms]

The matching Mars illustration is generated by WinJUPOS

For an explanation of caption information see exposure data.

 Posted by at 13:07

Mars (18 May 2020)

 Mars, Planet, Solar System  No Responses »
May 192020
 

This is my first Mars image of the 2020 apparition. We are gaining on Mars for an October 13th opposition, so right now we can see ‘around’ the corner of the planet and see a portion of the nighttime side. The upper part of the large dark area is Syrtis Major. The dark area is largely basaltic volcanic rock. At one time it was thought to be a volcanic plain but based on recent information obtained by Mars Global Surveyor it is now recognized as a fairly flat shield volcano. Just south of the dark area is the brighter Hellas Basin. The Hellas Basin is one of the largest known impact structures in the solar system. There is a distance of 30,000 feet between the rim and the floor of the basin.

Mars
[(V)TR: 3174×0.34ms;
TG: 3173×0.75ms;
TB: 3180×1.78ms]

Illustration courtesy WinJUPOS
 Posted by at 20:39

Mars (Oct 16, 2018)

 Mars, Planet, Solar System  No Responses »
Oct 182018
 

Mars is now falling significantly behind us as the Earth continues its quicker orbit around the Sun. Although we will never see Mars in a crescent phase from our viewpoint, we have pulled far enough ahead to view Mars somewhat from the side. This is the reason Mars does not appear round in this image; we can now only see 86% of the daytime side of the planet.

Mars[(V)TR/TG/TB:1050×2.7ms]

Still no communication from our rover Opportunity. NASA reports that the Martian atmosphere at the rover’s location has returned to normal conditions. JPL is still hopeful that the rover can be recovered and they continue to listen and periodically transmit a “give us a call” command.

The matching map and orientation graphic are courtesy of WinJUPOS.

 Posted by at 11:25

Mars’ atmosphere is clearing

 Mars, Planet, Solar System  No Responses »
Aug 162018
 

Imagery taken last night (15 Aug 2018) definitely shows more Martian surface detail. As the dust suspended in the atmosphere due to the planet wide dust storm starts to settle, we can see more and more of the surface. Visual observations of Mars during the recent meteor watch showed a hint of surface detail. New NWFAA member John Walker brought along his C-11 and I took several turns at the scope looking at the planet.

Visible is the dark Syrtis Major formation. It is the dark area running roughly north-south and is now known to be a large squat shield volcano. South of it is the bright Hellas Planitia. The name refers to the plain inside the Hellas impact basin, one of the largest craters in the solar system. It is 1,400 miles in diameter and measurements show the deepest part of the crater to be 30,000 ft lower than the rim although the rim itself rises several thousand feet above the surrounding terrain.

There is still no word on whether or not the solar powered rover Opportunity survived the storm. JPL says it may take a month or more before the rover tries to phone home. They report that they continue to listen and periodically transmit a “give us a call” command.

The matching map and the orientation illustration is courtesy of WinJUPOS.

 Posted by at 12:36
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