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Lunar Occultation of Mars 2020-09-06 at 04:39 UT

UPDATE: It's an APOD!!!

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200911.html

 

Here is one of the images taken by me during the Reappearance of the planet Mars from its Occultation by the Moon on 6th September 2020, as seen from Maceió, the capital city of Alaboas, in Brazil.

 

At that moment (about 04:39 UTC), Mars had just been totally out from behind the Lunar dark limb.

 

Seeing and atmospheric transparency were superb during the whole reappearance event. However, it is hard to accomplish such a result via the lucky imaging method, as only a meager number of frames can be stacked on the occasion of such a phenomenon. In this case, only about 70, out of a trimmed video of 200 frames, could be stacked.

The result, however, was very satisfactory, representing a significant improvement compared to a single frame.

 

Some Martian features, such as the South Polar Cap, a cloudy nothern polar region and large albedo marks, such as Terra Crimeria, Terra Tyrrhena and parts of Syrtis Major and Hellas Planitia can be easily noticed.

 

Next to place of Mars' reappearance, on the Moon, lies the big Janssen crater, crowded with other features, such as the Fabricius crater and Rimae Janssen.

 

This image was accomplished with the collaboration of my dear friend Romualdo Caldas.

 

Equipment:

Telescope: Meade LX90-ACF 12"

Camera: QHY183C

Filter: Optolong L filter

Accessory: Skywatcher Dielectric Diagonal Mirror

 

Please also see the whole reappearance as broadcasted by us LIVE through the Youtube channel of the Brazilian National Observatory:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDg4-ZIjaM&feature=youtu.be&...

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Uploaded on September 9, 2020