Solar
& Planetary LtE Now in April 2022
Not every email is
necessarily cited in the PDF’s CMO LtE
To see the preceding ones, click
The latest is at the top
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 30 April 0321UT
RGB and IR
Received:
Hi all,
I
wasn't expecting anything this morning as I had strong jetstream conditions, so
I was pleasantly surprised to at least get some images out.
Amazonis
is central with M Sirenum and M Cimmerium stretching across the upper
hemisphere.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220430/CFs30Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 29 April 0326UT
RGB and IR
Received:
Hi all,
After a
string of cloudy mornings and a session that I had to write off yesterday
morning due to atrocious seeing conditions, I had clear skies this morning,
albeit with strong jet stream overhead. So I was pleased to get this Mars set
out despite the conditions.
M
Sirenum is at upper left, M Cimmerium at upper right and Amazonis dominating
the centre left of the planet. Cerebus is not well seen, although maybe not
unexpected with the conditions. The clearing in the SPC is very evident, still
with some indication of possible dust over/on the pole.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220429/CFs29Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 22 April 0322 and
0447UT RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
I had
improved conditions this morning, and went after two image sets. There has been
recent interest in possible dust activity in the region of Perserverance rover,
on the north eastern edge of Syrtis Major, and I waited until after sunrise to
try and catch the region better than the first set. Unfortunately the northern
tip of SM is affected by the edge artefact, although from what I can see, any
significant dust activity has not extended across central Syrtis Major. The
brightish region on the eastern edge of SM could be some dust, although there
is a brightish patch that is sometimes seen at this location.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220422/CFs22Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 21 April 0257UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
I went
after Mars early in my session as I knew the power was going to be switched off
at 04.00UT due to our notorious loadshedding we have here.
Syrtis Major
is at lower right, Syrtis Minor is central and
I was
informed that there may be dust activity over Jezero crater (Perseverance
Rover).
Unfortunately
the northern limb is also affected by the edge artefact, which doesn’t help the
assessment of that area.
However,
it is my opinion that the R and IR may indicate dust activity on the E/NE edge
of Syrtis Major, but I am also aware of the “regular” light feature that is
sometimes seen on the eastern edge of SM.
Anyway,
it will be interesting to see if there are any developments around this, and
it’s worth trying to monitor.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220421/CFs21Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Re: EPSC2022 - submit
your abstract to the pro-am collaboration session!
Received:
Dear all,
Additional information : please note that amateur astronomers are eligible for bursaries to help in their participation in the meeting. Information about the bursaries program is available at: https://www.epsc2022.eu/information/bursaries.html
Successful applicants will receive:
a refund of their Abstract Processing Fee
a waiver for the registration fee
a travel grant capped at €250, supported by the presentation of
invoices/receipts for travel and accommodation, to be reimbursed after the
meeting.****
**** In view of the rising cost of fuel and
the potential impact on the cost of travel, this cap will be reviewed before
the final bursary selection. Any changes will be communicated to successful
applicants.
M. Delcroix, A. Kokori, M. Libert, R. Hueso
--
Marc DELCROIX (
http://astrosurf.com/delcroix
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 20 April 0358UT
RGB IR
Received: 20 April 2022 at 16:21 JST
Hi all,
I know
I shouldn't be surprised at this stage, but it’s hard to believe how AS3! was able to get anything reasonable out of my Mars data this
morning. On screen it was a mess, and I was guessing at the best focus point.
Syrtis
Major and
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220420/CFs20Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn, April 19 IR600
Received:
Hi all,
here's an image of Saturn from this morning using a 600nm longpass filter.
There
are only a few low contrast features to be seen in the Equatorial Zone.
cheers, Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220419-190718/s2022-04-19_19-07-18_IR600_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 19 April 0343UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Patience
was required this morning as my session started with terrible seeing and I
considered the option of a warm bed. But a cup of coffee,
and a few diversions found some improvement towards dawn.
The
view looks down on Syrtis Major and
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220419/CFs19Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 18 April 0410UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Hope
everyone has enjoyed their Easter weekend. I had a short gap in cloud as the
sky brightened this morning, after a few days of extensive rain. Thankfully we
were not exposed to the destructive and deadly flooding that hit sections of
the South African east coast over the last week.
Syrtis
Major is at lower left, with
Interesting
that Nerei D, on the western edge of
Mars
looks relatively clear, although dust again seems to be evident on the south pole.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220418/CFs18Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn April 17 IR600
Received:
Hi all,
here's an image of Saturn from this morning taken through a 600nm longpass
filter. This is 10 runs of 90s each recorded over 15 minutes during a short
period of slightly better seeing, measured and derotated using Winjupos.
best regards
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220417-191848/s2022-04-17_19-18-48_IR600_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: RE: New Mars Maps - Makoto Adachi (ALPO-Japan Mars)
Received:
Hi all,
Kindly delete
the previous email that I sent- I made some errors in Makoto Adachi’s name,
which I have corrected in this email. My apologies to Makoto.
If I
can share what I believe is a valuable and important addition to Mars observing
resources.
Over
the last months, Makoto Adachi of Alpo-Japan (Mars section), has painstakingly
taken data from the MARCI/MRO weather reports ( eg Malin
Space Science Systems Captioned Image Release, MSSS-608), and used this, together with his interpretation of amateur
images and other resources, to produce a wonderful and beautiful new set of
Mars maps. In my opinion, a real “labour of love”.
I am
sure Makoto would not mind me acknowledging the input of Dr Richard McKim of
the BAA Mars section, who assisted, amongst others, with checking of the names
database that was used.
The
incorporation, and interpretation of the MARCI/MRO data is also acknowledged
with credit to : NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science
Systems.
Although
my own input was minimal, I was pleased to be included in the various
communications as Makoto made progress, and was also able to give some feedback
to the MARCI/MRO team at MSSS.
Many
Mars observers, myself included, utilise the wonderful
maps of Shiro Ebisawa from the 1950’s, and Makoto has shown great respect for
Ebisawa’s work and contribution, in maintaining the same style for his new
maps. For me, the maps are stunningly beautiful, and a great tribute to the
historical legacy of Mars observations, whilst accepting, and incorporating,
modern day technology and data.
This is
a monumental work that Makoto has done, and I would like to congratulate and
thank him for the work he has done on this project.
There
were various challenges, not least of all the changes (in visibility, contrast,
and location) in the albedo features between the 1950’s and now, which made the
identification of some features difficult. It is possible that
updates/corrections may be required from time to time, but I believe this may
become a standard reference for observers and imagers. Practically, I will
probably use both Makoto’s maps and the Ebisawa maps as a joint reference(for comparison) in the short term.
Makoto
has done various formats of the “Adachi Maps”, which can be found on the Mars
Section of ALPO-Japan.
The
“MRO public image” are the best resolution maps, with
and without names
The
“Mars Maps for visual observation”, Makoto has deliberately “smudged”, to
reduce resolution and present what is a closer representation of what would be
observed by amateurs
Each
specific format of the map is presented in 3 different sizes (small, middle and
large)
He has
presented the Maps in North up format here : Mars
Maps 2021 North Up (sakura.ne.jp)
The
south up format of the Maps is available here: Mars
Maps 2021 South Up (sakura.ne.jp)
Purely
as an example I attach a screen capture of the MRO south-up unnamed map (middle
size).
I hope
this will be of both interest and use to Mars observers and imagers.
Best
regards,
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn, April 16 IR750
Received:
Hi all,
here's an image of Saturn from this morning using an IR 750nmm longpass filter.
Seeing was not very good overall but there were some short periods where it was
more stable. This is a combination of 9 separate runs taken over about 50
minutes and merged in Winjupos.
All the
best
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220416-185500/s2022-04-16_18-55-00_IR750_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 15 April 0310UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Image
set from this morning, with Syrtis Major on the left and
The
seeing on screen did not look that good, so I was pleasantly surprise with the
set, although there is a small spot on the edge of the SPC that is burned out.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220415/CFs15Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn April
14 IR750
Received:
Hi all,
here's an image of Saturn from this morning in reasonable seeing, taken using a
750nm longpass filter. 10 separate runs of 90s each were recorded over about 20
minutes and merged in Winjupos.
No
prominent features can be seen on on the disk, however
the seeing was not good enough for high resolution. Some faint/low contrast
features are visible in the equatorial zone.
All the
best
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220414-190900/s2022-04-14_19-09-00_IR750_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: EPSC2022 - submit your
abstract to the pro-am collaboration session!
Received:
Dears,
The European Planetary Science Congress 2022 conference will be held this year in
Please
consider submitting abstracts (in a simplified
form) on any pro-am topic in planetary science (planets, small bodies,
exoplanets, ...) in the ODAA3 dedicated pro-am session before May
18th, 13:00 CEST. Please
note that there is an abstract submission fee of
50€.
Feel free to circulate this message to all
those who might be interested in this event.
Looking forward reading your abstracts,
M. Delcroix, A. Kokori, M. Libert, R. Hueso
--
Marc
DELCROIX (
http://astrosurf.com/delcroix
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 14 April 0313UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
I
wasn't particularly happy with this set from this morning, but submit for the
record.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220414/CFs14Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn,
April 13 Red IR750
Received:
Hi all,
here are two images of Saturn from this morning in reasonable seeing. The Red
image is composed of 11 separate runs of 90s each spaced over about an hour,
the IR750 longpass was 8 runs over about 30 minutes.
The
Winjupos merging wasn't perfect between these images so there are some slight
artifacts visible around the edge of the planet.
best
regards
Anthony
Links:
Red
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220413-190912/s2022-04-13_19-09-12_Red_AW.png
IR750
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220413-190636/s2022-04-13_19-06-36_IR750_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 13
April 0343UT RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Despite
cloud interference and some jetstream, my session this morning started off
nicely with decent seeing conditions for Mars.
Whilst
the rind is not pleasant, it may give an indication of how good the seeing was.
It was matched by a strong outer diffraction ring, which I have removed.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220413/CFs13Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn,
April 12 IR600 Red
Received:
Hi all,
some reasonable conditions this morning on Saturn, I recorded 10 runs in the
red channel and 8 in 600nm longpass to see if I could pick up much cloud detail
on the planet.
There
are some low contrast features visible in the EZ but most of the planet seems
quiet.
best regards
Anthony
Link:
Red:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220412-190348/s2022-04-12_19-03-48_Red_AW.png
IR600:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220412-193018/s2022-04-12_19-30-18_IR600_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 12
April 0337UT RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Image
set from this morning produced from single channel captures as the forecast
cloud came in. We’ve had a few days of heavy rain.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220412/CFs12Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn,
April 11 RGB
Received:
Hi all,
here's a colour image of Saturn from this morning, made from 3 sets of RGB data
recorded over about 20 minutes. Seeing conditions were ok overall but the blue
channel data is still quite poor and doesn't have any fine detail.
As to
the question of whether we can see any of the sunlight passing through the
Cassini division onto the planet which might be *just* visible on the right
hand side immediately below the ring, it's very difficult to draw any
conclusions from this image as the resolution just isn't good enough. You could
possibly imagine there is a brighter sliver of light there, but it's just as
likely to be a processing or Winjupos derotation artifact.
cheers,
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220411-190806/s2022-04-11_19-08-06_RGB_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (QLD,
AUSTRALIA)
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn,
April 10 IR750 RGB
Received:
Hi all,
improved conditions here this morning so I had a go at a colour image of Saturn
as well as the IR750 longpass. The colour image is marginal, in particular the
blue channel was very poor, but it does give a fair indication of the banding
colouration at present.
The
colour image is 3 sets of R/G/B and the IR750 is 6 individual runs, all of 90s
and measured/merged in Winjupos.
cheers, Anthony
Links:
RGB:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220410-191507/s2022-04-10_19-15-07_RGB_AW.png
IR750:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220410-184900/s2022-04-10_18-49-00_IR750_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn,
April 9 IR750
Received:
Hi all,
here's an infrared image of Saturn from this morning through a 750nm longpass
filter, conditions a little better than yesterday but still not great.
This is
composed of 8 individual images captured over about 40 minutes and combined in
Winjupos. There are some artifacts visible here, especially where the inner
edge of the ring enters/leaves the planet, but mostly due to the poor seeing
interfering with the WJ derotation algorithm I think.
best regards
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220409-192000/s2022-04-09_19-20-00_IR750_AW.png
Anthony WESLEY (QLD,
AUSTRALIA)
¤¤••••• Subject: Saturn April
8 IR750
Received:
Hi all,
after a long period of poor seeing I found some reasonable conditions for a
while this morning.
Here's
an image of Saturn taken through my 750nm longpass filter, 5 runs captured
about an hour before dawn and combined in Winjupos.
best regards
Anthony
Link:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/gallery/saturn/20220408-194108/large.jpg
Anthony WESLEY (
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 7 April
0418UT RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
The
early part of the session this morning was a total writeoff with hopeless
seeing. I went back to Mars as sunrise was approaching and found conditions had
improved a little. Heavier handed processing was required to knock this set
out.
Aurorae
Sinus is central. The darker side of Mars.....
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220407/CFs07Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Supernova 2022ewj in
NGC 3367
Received:
Hi all,
Here is
an image of the current supernova in the small face-on spiral galaxy NGC 3367.
https://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/ngc3367_2022_04_05dp.jpg
I was
surprised to read this is the sixth one to have been recorded in this galaxy
since 1986!
Best
wishes,
Damian PEACH
(Selsey, WS, the
Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars & Saturn
conjunction (April 4th)
Received:
Hi all,
Here is
a view of the recent conjunction between Mars and Saturn.
They
are about 20' apart in this view from the 4th.
http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/mars_saturn_2022_04_04dp.jpg
Best
wishes,
Damian PEACH
(Selsey, WS, the
Web: http://www.damianpeach.com/
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 5 April 0309UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
One of the
more interesting aspects of the image set from this morning is the apparent
dust over the SPC. M Erythraeum dominates the upper left of the planet, with
Solis Lacus at upper right. The Valles Marineris complex extends laterally
across the centre of the planet, with the familiar bright Ophir near the
centre. Nilokeras and Lunae Lacus are near lower centre and Niliacus Lacus and
M Acidalium are visible at lower left. A challenging processing session with
the contrast between the bright Tharsis and the darker regions.
I had
just commenced a second Mars set to try and deal with the edge artefact when
the planet dimmed dramatically. Looking outside the observatory, mist had
rolled in, ending the session.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220405/CFs05Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 2 April 0345UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
A very
brief Mars session before cloud closed over and we head off for a weekend out
of town.
Again
some late afternoon cloud over the Aurorae Sinus region, but there may also be
light general equatorial cloud. A nice view of Solis Lacus at upper left.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220402/CFs02Apr22.png
¤¤••••• Subject: Mars 1 April 0336UT
RGB IR
Received:
Hi all,
Image
set from this morning.
Solis
Lacus is at upper left. Some light afternoon equatorial cloud can be seen near
the terminator.
Best
regards,
https://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2022/220401/CFs01Apr22.png
