Mars

Mars photographed from my backyard

This image shows the clouds more clearly

The difficulties in photographing Mars are three-fold:  first Mars is not very big; second it varies in distance,  is a long way away and currently is not as close as it can be; and third it is often near the horizon although currently  reasonably high in the sky. The fourth and un-mentioned component is that my astro-photography skills and equipment are currently not good enough to achieve the better results I am striving for. Anyway for now and bearing in mind there was high level cloud on the night I took this photo, I am not unhappy with the result.

The polar ice-cap is clearly visible (at 1.00 o clock) and high level white clouds (three o clock and seven o clock)  Isn't it great to look at an alien world?