MarsWatch 1996-1997

Images of Mars from Astronomers Around the World


Linking Amateur and Professional Mars Observing Communities

for Observational Support of the Mars Pathfinder Mission


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31 January 1997

Sequence of Mars images acquired on 31 January 1997 using a D.30 cm F/24 Cassegrain telescope at direct focus and an ISIS CCD-800 camera
(KAF-400 chip, 768x512 pixels, 14 bit A/D converter). Each monochrome image is the enhanced sum of four normalized original frames. The color images are the result of the composition of 12 images (4 B, 4 V and 4 R).

The enhancement was obtained by

  1. Image restoration using the Van Cittert algorithm
  2. Fourier filtering using the Butterworth low-pass filter
  3. Contrast enhancement using unsharp masking
  4. Image enlargement by 50% using biquadratic interpolation
  5. Histogram stretching for exposure matching

Exp.times:

Authors: A. Leo, G. Quarra
San Gersole` Planetary Group - Florence (ITALY)
U.A.I. - Planetary Section, Mars Program


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