Most of these photos were taken during the period of Mar's closest approach to Earth, called opposition, which happened in mid April of 2014. During that time Mars was at it's visually largest and brightest. Because Mars is a neighboring planet and can get quite close, it's size varies dramatically depending upon where it is. Mars can vary in angular size from about 4" to 15", which translates to it's (area) size being 8 times larger at closest approach (opposition) than at it's furthest distance (conjunction). The next opposition of Mars won't occur until May 22, 2016, so until then I  won't be photographing it much, it's just too small otherwise.