Mars takes slightly longer to complete one rotation on its axis than Earth does. Therefore, as the night wears on, Mars slowly rotates to allow you to see about half of the planet. Because its rotational period is different, and a slightly different area is visible from one night to the next. Mars had an apparent size of 23.8 arc-seconds and was 98 percent illuminated in this image.
This image of Mars was taken from my backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona, using a ToUcam web cam on a FCT-150 refractor with a Televue 4x PowerMate and Vari-Extender. The focal length was about f45. The image has been downsized by a factor of four. The images were aligned and stacked with Registax.
Constellation: Aquarius
RA: 22h 53m 08.8s Dec: -14d 10' 06"
August 10, 2003
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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