Time lapse rotation - half a day of Mars (not mine!)

My friend, Jim, who I know from work, has a 9 1/4 inch telescope, a good video camera, a dark place to observe from – and tremendous patience!!
He took a set of photos every half-hour for a whole night, processed them and put them together in this video.
It’s amazing the detail people can get these days with good techniques.
See for yourself:

Mars' rotation period is just a little longer than Earth's, so in this time lapse, Mars does about a half-turn in this all-night set of photos.

About these ads