Mars was 10 days away from its closest approach when this image was taken. The planet had an apparent size of 24.6 arc-seconds and was 99 percent illuminated. Mars had become a magnitude -2.73 object dominating the night sky. This image shows the morning clouds on the eastern limb of the planet very well. The cloud cover over the north polar cap is also prominent. The central meridian was 207 degrees at the time this was taken. South is up in this image, and the eastern limb of Mars is to the right.
To see an image taken over two hours later that same night, click here.
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. The focal length was about f28. The images were aligned and stacked with Registax.
Constellation: Aquarius
RA: 22h 48m 27.6s Dec: -14d 48' 24"
August 17, 2003
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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