When I stopped imaging at the end of the 2009-2010 apparition, I planned on beginning imaging the new apparition on Sept. 1, 2011. As luck would have it, we had very good seeing this morning and I was able to catch Mars rising over the house at sunrise. Although thermals off the roof affected the image (at 35 degrees altitude) here's the first shot of the mysterious red planet for the 2011-2012 apparition, showing a bright spot in the Hellas basin. The limb show signs of dust, but I suspect that to be an artifact of processing. so take any detail with a grain of salt.
[ Wayne Jaeschke ; West Chester,Pennsylvania U.S.A]
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