Neptune's Moon Triton Occults Star

The image above is Neptune (near center) with its moon, Triton, at the 4 o'clock position. Just beyond Triton, just a wee bit further to the right, is a star. I watched Neptune move slowly until Triton occulted the star on September 20th.

Go to http://www.myslooh.com/data/members/1627/1190342291.gif to see an animated GIF I made from combining several images of Neptune's moon, Triton, occulting a star.

Mars

Mars is FINALLY showing some detail. It has been looking like a fuzzy blob, but as Earth and Mars get closer, detail is finally beginning to show. Viewing should improve through sometime in December.

This image was taken on 1 Sep 07 03:05:11 UTC with a 14 inch SCT, at about 420 magnification. The dark feature in the center is Syrtis Major.

The Mars Global Surveyor was able to determine that Syrtis Major was a low-relief shield volcano -- until then it was thought that this feature was a Martian plain.

The dark color comes from the basaltic volcanic rock of the region and the relative lack of dust.