Science at Parramatta High
Mars the wanderer
Follow his journey through Scorpius
— Feb 20,22,24 2001 —
Five months later
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On February 20 2001, at 2:15am Parramatta time, Mars was bright - just above beta Scorpii. If you peer between the TV antennae and the clouds, you can see him clearly.

This exposure was 10 seconds, with a 50mm standard lens at f/2.0, unguided.
The film was 400ASA colour print film.

Two days later, he had passed beta on his journey though the constellation.
This time, the clouds stayed away.

Photo details are the same as the one above - Feb 22 2001

A higher magnification shot of Antares, taken on the same night, may be seen here.
Another two days and Mars is well past beta.

This photo was taken with a 400mm f.l. f/6.3 telephoto, piggy-backed on an equatorially-mounted telescope. Exposure was 60 seconds, guided.

Image scale in this photo is some 8 times greater; i.e. the photo is 8 times magnified compared to the two above.

Mars appears greenish (rather than his natural red) in these shots due to chromatic aberration in the telephoto lens, and saturation of the film.
At left is a three-frame animation of the beta/omega/nu Scorpius area, with Mars passing through.

The three frames are from the above photos, scaled together and aligned.

The animation represents 5 days of Mars' motion, down to the right, through the left claw of Scorpius.

Five months later (July 2001)  Mars had passed the very favourable opposition of 2001 and was receding from our view again.
A wide-field view shows neighbouring constellations, too.

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On to Saturn, Jupiter, or the moon, in much more detail.

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