On 30th May 2016, Mars had a close approach to Earth (being only 46.8million miles from Earth). The photo below was taken few days after.
The photo is a result of stacking 25 frames of a avi made in 640x480 60fps movie crop mode. Since the image was a little small, I enlarged it 2x via Registax. The image was further enhanced with wavelet processing and for brightness and saturation.
One of the questions I had when I heard about this close approach to Earth, was that whether it really makes a difference. In short, it does. Here's a comparison of a shot I took in 2014 Jan 26 with the same set of equipment.
NASA has a page http://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/mars-close-approach/ that outlines some facts about the closest approach. One of the most interesting facts I found there was the change in the apparent size of Mars. Compared to 13th of Jan 2016, the apparent diameter of Mars on 30th May 2016 is more than 3 times.While to naked eye this may not mean much, for observations made with even a binocular and definitely for astrophotography it gives a significantly better chance of observing and photographing. There is a better chance turning up in 2018 where the apparent diameter will be 1.35 times what we see now.
I am not totally happy with the final result of the photos I got though. As one of my friends said, it looks blurry. There are a few reasons for this. For one, my eyesight is not that good in that what I think looks sharp in the DSLR are actually not that sharp when you look at them enlarged. Secondly I am using a relatively low scale barlow - one that comes with Samyang 500m mirror lens. While I haven't had the chance to compare with a decent barlow that is specifically built for astrophotography, I'm willing to bet that the one I am using reduces quite a bit of the light quality. Thirdly it was extremely windy that I could barely get it focused and kept in the view port. While the photographing process is actually videoing, it does affect when the winds are too strong.
I have been wondering if I should be upgrading my astrophotography equipment. I think I should, but it should probably start from the lowest cost component, i.e. the barlow.
That's all for now.
 | ||
| Mars - 04th June 2016. Nexstar 4SE, Canon 550D with 2x barlow (Samyang mirror lens accessory) |
One of the questions I had when I heard about this close approach to Earth, was that whether it really makes a difference. In short, it does. Here's a comparison of a shot I took in 2014 Jan 26 with the same set of equipment.
 |
| Mars - 26th Jan 2014 |
|
| Mars - 04th June 2016 |
NASA has a page http://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/mars-close-approach/ that outlines some facts about the closest approach. One of the most interesting facts I found there was the change in the apparent size of Mars. Compared to 13th of Jan 2016, the apparent diameter of Mars on 30th May 2016 is more than 3 times.While to naked eye this may not mean much, for observations made with even a binocular and definitely for astrophotography it gives a significantly better chance of observing and photographing. There is a better chance turning up in 2018 where the apparent diameter will be 1.35 times what we see now.
I am not totally happy with the final result of the photos I got though. As one of my friends said, it looks blurry. There are a few reasons for this. For one, my eyesight is not that good in that what I think looks sharp in the DSLR are actually not that sharp when you look at them enlarged. Secondly I am using a relatively low scale barlow - one that comes with Samyang 500m mirror lens. While I haven't had the chance to compare with a decent barlow that is specifically built for astrophotography, I'm willing to bet that the one I am using reduces quite a bit of the light quality. Thirdly it was extremely windy that I could barely get it focused and kept in the view port. While the photographing process is actually videoing, it does affect when the winds are too strong.
I have been wondering if I should be upgrading my astrophotography equipment. I think I should, but it should probably start from the lowest cost component, i.e. the barlow.
That's all for now.
This is pretty cool!
ReplyDelete