Observation by Nick James: Phobos and Deimos

Uploaded by

Nick James

Observer

Nick James

Observed

2020 Sep 13 - 00:54

Uploaded

2020 Sep 13 - 07:31

Objects

Mars

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Constellation

Pisces

Field centre

RA: 01^h48^m
Dec: +06°42'
Position angle: -0°25'

Field size

0°33' × 0°24'

Equipment

Celestron HD11 + FLI6303

Exposure

10x1s

Location

Chelmsford, UK

Target name

Phobos/Deimos

Title

Phobos and Deimos

About this image

It is a bit of a cheat since this is an image, not a visual observation, but here is a response to Richard McKim's observers' challenge. This camera is not ideal for the challenge since it is intended for deep-sky images. It has a mechanical shutter and no anti-blooming so there is a strong overflow for bright objects down a column. The pixel size is also relatively large (0".64/pix). This is the result of a stack of 10x1s images (about my shortest possible exposure) processed with a radius 6 median background subtract. Deimos is easy, Phobos more difficult since it is closer to the planet but the astrometry of both is within 0".2 of the ephemeris positions. The circle in the inset shows the current diameter of Mars at this scale (20".7 arcsec).

Files associated with this observation

mars_20200913_0154_ndj.jpg (619.5 kB)

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David Basey, Martin Lewis, Eric Watkins, Callum Potter, Jeremy Shears, Graham Winstanley, Peter Carson, Geof Lewis

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