Pictures of Mars: closest to Earth in 70,000 years

[PlanetMars]

Dear Sci Forum readers,

As many of you might know Mars is currently closer to Earth than it was almost 70 000 years ago.

I do not find any mention of this fact on this message board.

Anyway, to take full advantage of this opportunity, I am taking nearly daily pictures of Mars, this is the largest Mars will get in my lifetime.

It is all posted at http://www.webcam-astrophotography.com

I have been doing this for 2 months - nearly every night and is getting quite good at it.

My images of Mars on this page are stunning:

http://www.webcam-astrophotography.com/mars/15-august-2003.html

There are shades of red, orange and yellow and everything in between.

Alwyn Botha
http://www.webcam-astrophotography.com/

[Crisp]

Very nice pictures indeed!

Have you ever considered purchasing a (relatively) cheap digital camera ? Perhaps this gives a better quality than a regular webcam ?

[Prester John]

Nice photos. Just got me a small refractor to start my observations :)

[PlanetMars]

>>>Very nice pictures indeed!

Thank you.

Have you ever considered purchasing a (relatively) cheap digital camera ?

No - no money.

I am sitting in a partially completed observatory - no roof.

When it rains I carry everything indoors.

>>> Perhaps this gives a better quality than a regular webcam ?

I do not think so. I do not know about digital cameras, but

a webcam's main advantage is that it captures BMPs at 5 frames per second.

After 3 minutes I have 1400 frames - 200 megabytes. I do not know that a digital camera can store that in the camera.

You must be able to take the lens of the camera and those digital cameras are very expensive.

Downloading stuff from a digital camera is slow I heard. Webcams write their bmps immediately to my PCs hard drive.

I am very happy with the results of my camera.

Alwyn Botha

http://www.webcam-astrophotography.com

[Pollux V]

Great pictures, man. How big are the planets when you're looking at them through your telescope? For me, Saturn is about the size of a pinky fingernail.

I have a six incher, and since it appears that you use a ten inch telescope, might I inquire as to the price of your telescope? I don't want to buy it from you, but I want to get my own. For me, six inches just isn't enough.

I haven't gotten a good look at Mars through my current telescope because of all the moisture in the air where I live. It's too goddamn blurry. I have to wait until wintertime:(

[Pollux V]

Heh. Nevermind. $2500 is a bit out of my price range. Heheh.

edit: I'll be starting a thread on this very subject.