Mars in 1988: Adventures in film photography
My first great opposition of Mars happened in 1988. In those days most observations of Mars involved sketching and long focal length photography. My sketches have long since vanished as I lost a box of sketch books I had during my move to NH. However, I was able to hold onto my photographs. I had them digitally transferred to photo CD in the 1990s. Compared to the imagery one can obtain by stacking video frames and processing, these pale in comparison. One has to realize that the exposure times are 1-2 seconds in length using Technical pan 2415 and Ektachrome 200 slide film. During the exposure time, any variation in the atmosphere would result in a poor image. As a result, you took numerous photographs each night. I recall shooting 36 exposure rolls during each session with only two to four images being truly worthy of showing. The following display shows the planet Mars as observed that summer and fall. It would be another 15 years before I seriously attempted to record another Mars opposition.
August 1988 - This shows a gibbous phase of the planet and a very large, bright south polar cap. Ektachrome 200
This shows selected images I took between September and October 1988. Not the size of the shrinking south polar cap. Ektachrome 200
My best photograph was using technical Pan 2415 film