a trip to Mars for the budget-minded

This is our first time imaging mars (Dave,Irvin and me) and we were all well pleased with the first attempt.

The rain stopped and the clouds broke enough to afford our kind souls a view of the red planet.

5 hours and many cups of tea later we had 100 video clips and many nice views. We could have kept going but we were quite literaly falling out of our chairs by 2 am.

The equatorial platform is still in the process of being built so we relied on patience and steady hands (the old stand-byes).

We all enjoy the amazing pics and posts on Astromart.

Sincerely,
Andrew

Attached Image:

I think you guys did a great job. Wish my first try was that nice. Sounds like you had a blast which is the best part.

Russell

Mike,

It's all in the patience. We set the finder scope carefully and just move the telescope small amounts. You want to predict the path of the planet and allow it to pass through the fov while the scope is settled (focusing is quick and "yeah, that looks pretty good" in the 5 seconds that the planet passes through the fov).

We have been building a platform for the last 5 months and it is nearly complete (we have all the pieces, just require someone to put them together).

We all agree the single most important thing is seeing (and colomation, aperature, tracking, and good optics). When the platform is complete it will be nice to try shooting ~F30.

Sincerely,
Andrew