This is a good year for observing Mars even if the planet stays low in the sky for us living far up in the north.
I live in Stockholm, Sweden and Mars never gets higher than 27° above the horizon.
Next favorable opposition will be in 2020 so I took my chance at photographing Mars faint Moons, Deimos and Phobos.
On the 19th of April I planned for the best timing when the moons would be at a good elongation from the planet.
I had also rotated the Newton telescope in such a way that both moons would be positioned between the streaks of light from the spider vanes.
Deimos at magnitude 12.9 was clearly visible on several shots taken shortly after midnight.
Phobos is more than a magnitude brighter but so much closer to the planet that it was invisible, hiding in the blinding light from Mars that shines at magnitude -1.3.
/*Peter R
- Deimos to the right of Mars
- Deimos with orbit path and annotated
