markse68

I “think“ the features change quite a lot as the dust storms move the regolith around and reveal the bedrock below- I noticed too that it needs quite a bit of imagination to match the SS image to the ep view!

Hi Robert, nice sketch When I saw it though I figured you must be in a different country as it is rotated far from what I was seeing last night- what time were you looking at it? Mark

been thinking about trying one of these- interested to hear how you get on with it pixies if you care to share As a variable nd it could be useful on Mars. Why did you decide to pass it on Baz?

grass is kinder on dropped eps too! Great that you’re rekindling the flame Nick- clear skies to you!

Yes it looks quite blue in that image down there- the north is in winter so i guess the north polar ice cap is growing as the south shrinks and there’ll be lots of clouds/condensing gasses down there in the ferocious winter cold. Incredible amount of detail in that image!

Great! waiting with bated breath for your comparison results Paul!

Very nice sketch pixies. Interesting also was a light patch at the North pole maybe cloud as i don’t think it has ice?

So having bemoaned the lack of clarity on Mars lately and seeking a magic bullet filter to rectify this, the atmospherics parted and revealed a wonderful amount of detail on the red planet tonight. I spent a good few hours on Mars alone tonight, trying out various eps and filters and my ADC settings. Starting at about 11pm I think, the adc was very much needed but the clarity and steadiness of the atmosphere here were immediately obvious. I started as usual with the baader neodymium filter and kept with that mostly but also tried the mars b and no filters. I’m starting to think that seeing is all and the filters don’t really add much at all really! though the neo did noticeably dim the diffraction spikes and darken the background a bit. I could have/ should have stayed much longer the view was so good! By 2am Mars was at its highest or close to and the adc wasn’t really needed further so out it came. I abandoned the neo too and I think the final views with naked ep (7mm i think- 230x) were ultimately the best. I don’t know if I really saw it but there were 2 thin dark fingers protruding from the main southern dark region and looking at SS, could the lower one (dob view) be Valles Marineris? That would be very cool as it has to be the most intriguing feature on the planet- visually at least- a huge series of canyons that look like an excavation or crash landing site from something really huge! Mark

News flash!! Mars is incredible tonight- no need for filters but adc helping- wow! Mark

I’m using one What I really need is a laser beam to energise the sodium layer in the mesosphere to create an artificial star and adaptive optics in a closed loop with the image of that “star” but a Baader filter will probably work out cheaper Won’t work though

Nail on head John- i’ve been a bit frustrated the past few sessions just not getting the same level of detail I have had like last Sunday- detail where a filter wasn’t really necessary! Last night Mars was literally popping in and out of focus! When sharp there were tantalising glimpses of detail but they were very fleeting. Of coarse no filter in the world is going to stabilise our atmosphere- doh So easy to fall into the trap of looking for magic bullets Would still like to see a bit more when it is sharp though...

Vega to Al Fawaris was comfortable fit with room to spare- not very accurate and that’s inside the brightened halo so probably wider than that in reality- but definitely wouldn’t fit Deneb Mark

but less contrast? I’ve got a “mars type b” filter which makes the planet really red- it does increase the contrast of dark features but dims the image a lot and the redness is pretty intense! I’m only really thinking mars here as the giants show plenty of detail on a good night

So should I buy a contrast booster or not? They're quite pricey. I have a neo and i guess it makes a subtle difference but i’m finding with my 8” that the features seem to be getting harder to tease out from the bright disk now it’s (mars) nearer opposition- could just be seeing which has deteriorated lately or is it getting brighter and more washed out? It’s frustrating as it should be getting better! I have had odd nights of very good hints at crisp detail but I’d like to see more! @paulastro are you still finding it useful this time round? It seems to be advertised as a “fringe killer” for achros but presumably the contrast boosting benefits should help with any image inc newts? Mark

Tried them out under the stars last night and can confirm they are a narrower actual field than yours @PeterW- i could get Vega and Al Fawaris in the same view but not Deneb. On a plus note they do do what I hoped they’d do- they lift the stars from the lp background and make less visible/invisible naked eye stars visible Focussing did work on the stars though you have to wind the eps out forever- the thread is way too fine, and opposite to normal bins you wind the eps out for distant objects and in for near- which is a pain as you then have to wind them all the way back in again to fit then easily into the storage case- the case is a quite nice semi rigid foam type though. No lens caps supplied- only the case but lens caps on bins are a pain so that’s ok. They don’t have a tripod thread like the Orions so not so easy to mount to a head rig- they have this weird chrome beauty ring on the hinge that seems to be held on only with a dab of grease! Eyecups like others are hard cold anodised aluminium so not good for glasses. But I really don’t like the tunnel vision feel and the bright ring (not really distortion as such like i called it before) around the edge that creates it although once you zone in it’s useable. I wonder if it’s the quite deep rim around the objective that’s causing that bright ring. Would love to take a peak through some 2x54s to compare.