ASTROPIXELSEATONS HILL OBSERVATORY
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FROM THE OBSERVATORY · 11-Jul-2018

Hazy Mars at Opposition

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Hazy Mars at Opposition
Mars is currently at it's closest to Earth since 2003, and appears as a brilliant red star in the sky. Unfortunately it is also suffering from a severe global dust storm, showing no signs of abating. This means even the polar ice caps are hard to see, let alone any surface features.
BEHIND THE IMAGE

Notes from the session

Image:

Infra-red: 1650/5000 frames at 92fps
Red: 750/5000 frames at 92fps
Green: 750/5000 frames at 92fps
Blue: 750/5000 frames at 92fps



Hardware:

Celestron EdgeHD 1100
SkyWatcher EQ8 Pro Mount
ZWO ASI290MM Camera



Location:

Orange zone in Brisbane, Australia. (Bortle 7)



Software:

SharpCap: Video recording
AutoStakkert: Frame extraction & stacking
PixInsight: Deconvolution, HDRMT, RGB combination, color calibration using north polar ice cap as white reference, pixelmath combine IR + RGB, rotation, unsharp mask, multiscale linear transform for noise reduction, global saturation.