Amateur Space Images.

Hi ALL

As some have a distrust for NASA on here, here is a nice link for some images by amateurs and post on the BBC Sky at Night Flickr page.

BBC Sky at Night Viewers Pictures

Some very nice images on here.
Just to add you can search for objects that interest you if a picture has been submitted it will be listed.

Those were fantastic! If we could just get some clear skies I would add some Comet shots to this!

But March as usually is not co-operating.

reply to post by wmd_2008

I indeed checked the pool search function and looked up MARS. Among others, the results contained the following interesting image:

Mars with ice and frost clouds
(couldn't post the pic here cause it's not got a CC license)

Mars with ice and frost clouds

(Equipment used: mono DMK21AU, RGB Astronomik filters, 2x Televue 'Big' Barlow, 12" f10 Meade LX200 SCT.)

I find it interesting that (a) amateurs can actually achieve such fantastic results with their equipment nowadays (the costs are probably 'astronomical') and (b) that MARS on these pics looks so different and more 'alive', especially in terms of the coloring. But please don't think that I distrust NASA in general, it's just that they always seem to remove oceans, icy regions, forests, blue skies etc. ... you know: all that interesting stuff on Mars!!

Now I just hope I won't lose too much time searching for stuff in that image pool, but thanks for posting ... S+F!

What a great site OP, thanks for posting. Some awesom shots from amateurs. Hopefully, it will inspire others to test their talents!

Originally posted by jeep3r
[
I find it interesting that (a) amateurs can actually achieve such fantastic results with their equipment nowadays (the costs are probably 'astronomical') and (b) that MARS on these pics looks so different and more 'alive', especially in terms of the coloring. But please don't think that I distrust NASA in general, it's just that they always seem to remove oceans, icy regions, forests, blue skies etc. ... you know: all that interesting stuff on Mars!!

Now I just hope I won't lose too much time searching for stuff in that image pool, but thanks for posting ... S+F!

Really do you think that look here then HiRise

For example the claim of glass tubes on Mars can be shown for what they really are sand dunes.

click on the image when loaded for full size.

hirise.lpl.arizona.edu...

The trouble seems to be the people who start the stories about NASA not showing good images are people with an agenda against NASA , or they haven't a clue were to look don't believe what they say these things are easy to find.

There are lots of threads on here re NASA pictures and myself and others have shown a higher res image to show the image in the OP's were not the best you can get.

reply to post by wmd_2008


No, I don't really think so ... I was just being a bit ironic while referring to your initial catchphrase ('distrusting NASA').

My standpoint in this regard is that NASA:
(a) provides unaltered, authentic imagery
(b) is selective in what is being published or not

This is the message I also convey in my other posts and concerning (a) I'm still waiting for somebody to prove me wrong. Statement (b) cannot be confirmed or rejected at this point in time. But I suspect that Curiosity, for example, has acquired some additional and interesting pictures that we don't have access to via the official public archives. But I'm not going to elaborate on that in this thread.

As for the imagery provided by MRO/HIRISE: it is indeed marvelous and (ocassionally) also rich in colors. I frequently analyse HIRISE imagery in detail using HIVIEW and can confirm that some of the material displays features that greatly differ from the uniform reddish look that we usually associate with Mars.


By the way: Have you heard of a concept called "Mars Geoscience Imaging at Centimeter-Scale (MAGIC)"?


You can find the PDF here, I think it would be quite a revolutionary system if ever realized!