For years and years, Don Parker of Coral Gables, Florida, a retired anesthesiologist, has led the world in color planetary imaging by amateur astronomers. His portraits of planets in the solar system are just a cut above everything else that gets produced, and he’s been a contributor to Astronomy for decades.
Don regularly images several planets, with Mars being one of his favorites. His images of the Red Planet from January 12 are simply amazing; check out the composite and the three individual monochromatic frames. Don used his 16-inch reflector at f/47, a DMK 21AU 618.AS CCD camera, and a series of Astrodon filters for the exposures. Although the seeing was “poor” compared to his best, the images are still amazing.