A beautiful evening yesterday - clear, transparent, calm, seeing good (by local standards), very little dew - the temperature got well below freezing but it was really comfortable. Started imaging fairly early whilst there was still some interference from local heat plumes, using a 2x Powermate with my CPC1100 to get a focal length of 5.6 metres (f/20). Here's the result of this early session:
2010 Feb 10, 2152 UT. CPC1100, 2x Powermate, Astronomik type 2c colour seperation & Planet Pro 742 filters, DMK21. Transparency excellent, seeing fairly good with almost constant but small amplitude boiling motions (about 6/10). Temp -4C, wind calm.
Top row: RGB composite; LRGB composite using red channel as luminance; LRGB composite using IR channel as luminance; simulation (Starry Night Pro).
Bottom row: IR, red, green & blue channel images. Best 500 from 3000 frame AVI stacked for each channel. All channels upscaled 56%.
I was intending to make more series at higher magnification later in the night, but unfortunately a light breeze set in, and as this was from the sea, the temperature variations were large and the seeing became impossibly wobbly. :bawling: Still my best Mars this opposition, though.