[Atmob-discuss] Mars and friends

[John Boudreau]

Late Christmas night I set up to capture some video clips of Mars and it's two moons Phobos and Deimos to create a GIF animation as I did back in 2005. This is best done during a several day period around actual opposition, as the 'opposition effect' brightens not only Mars, but also the moons, making it easier to capture them. Several background stars appear to drift by as Mars moves along the starfield--- I was actually autoguiding on Mars during the video sequences, and not only was Mars moving along in RA, but it also drifted north in DEC by about 9 arcseconds. You may notice that the stars appear to drift to the left and slightly down. 

Here's a link to the GIF result. Image and acquisition details are on the webpage:
http://home.comcast.net/~jeboud/marsmoons_2007.htm

For those unfamiliar with the opposition effect, here's an explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_effect


---John Boudreau