2024 July 5
Mars Opposition Blog 5 July 2024
The SPC continues to shrink, and is too tiny upon the sub-6 arcsecond diameter disk to offer any interior details. There is little sign of any white cloud, though some weak cloud has sometimes been visible along the north limb, indicating a nascent N. polar hood. The evening orographic clouds have not yet been sighted, and I remind observers that to detect them easily one needs a deep blue or violet filter, at least when the disk diameter is as tiny as it still is. Little dust activity has been evident of late, but on June 23 Foster imaged a small (and hardly detectable) dust storm to the south of Propontis (in the light region labelled Azania upon the Ebisawa standard map), which was also seen by the MRO spacecraft. His images of June 22 and 25 do not obviously show it. His June 23 image is posted here, together with drawings by Makoto Adachi and an image by Niall MacNeill.
Several more observers have joined in our programme, and I have now produced a Word document listing all of them, which is posted upon the front page of the Mars Section. It will be updated as necessary.
Front page teaser image:
A shrinking S. polar cap, and a very small dust storm near Propontis. By Clyde Foster
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