They’d be nice on the tree in a few months time 👍

Hi Robert, did you book recently and they still have pitches? 

Mark

I found this talk by Dirk (head of project) very interesting and a good introduction to what it’s about. I think they’re mainly hoping to get imagers to donate data to the project but anyone can get involved in the data analysis or having a go setting up and capturing images from the LCO 40cm scopes if you don’t have an ap setup.

Its early days for me and I wish i could contribute more but it’s fun so far and a pretty amazing project- searching for young stars and their planet forming accretion  disks. The video isn’t at all boring and worth a look if you’re interested in that kind of stuff

This is my first capture from the LCO- IC5146 Cocoon nebula. its a rough composite of RGB and nothing special to look at but they aren't going for pretty pictures- they're only really interested in relative star brightness and changes over time.

These just arrived- wanted to see how they compare. The 3x is huge and has a narrow afov but maybe useful as a monocular for recognising constellations and  finding stuff in my lp sky.

The 2x is much more like it- much wider afov so i’ll look for another and make a binocular as many others have- maybe a wearable for starbathing

Mark

I wish my eyeballs could integrate as well as cameras can! Amazing detail from a smallish scope- beautiful images

I was going to suggest asking Dirk Froebrich of the HOYS- LCO citizen science project but no need- you can watch a fascinating talk he gave recently to the Hampshire Astronomy Group on youtube just the other week- I found it excellent- fascinating stuff for someone like me who doesn't know much at all on the subject of star/planet formation. It's a recruitment drive really- they need data for the project but very worthwhile I think!

Mark

21 minutes ago, cwis said:

The focusser is quite stiff and has a fair bit of slop in it - I think I need to do some more investigation - it could be the culprit?

 My "sharp bit" was directly above the centre of the view.  Is that really a coincidence?  If my focusser "droops" would that move the sharp spot up in my field of view (as well as tilting the focal plane and all sorts of other stuff)? I'm finding it hard to visualise...

Was it damaged in transit? Maybe the focuser got knocked and isn't perpendicular to the tube throwing the secondary into apparent wrong alignment which you then adjusted but now everything's off? No idea if that would cause the ovality but maybe? I was going to suggest seeing what happens if you lift the focuser tube in it's slop but if the secondary isn't where it was supposed to be then it'll still be bad

3 minutes ago, BinocularSky said:

Field of view is fairly "flexible" with Galilean optics - it depends how close you get your eye to the exit pupil - which, just to complicate matters, is virtual and between the objective and eyepiece.

 

That’s what i’d read but oddly with these it didn’t make much difference if i put eyeball to glass (almost!) or at a more comfortable distance. I suspect they’ve messed up with the rim around the obj making it too deep so it causes the peripheral ring i’m seeing and restricts the fov. I’m sending them back anyway.

Good isn’t it Stu

Ive found too that with the great seeing we’ve had last couple of nights no filter is best. And how the detail just seems to gel magically from an otherwise low contrast and unspectacular view with a patient eye. In fact i’ve tried to show others how amazing it is and they don’t seem to be able to see it 🤷‍♂️ Sometimes it drifts off and a tiny tweak of the focus pops it back- as Mike helpfully mentioned in another thread the rapid rise of the planet requires almost constant focus tweaking as the atmosphere thins.

I too noticed an indistinct but definitely there, brightening at 10 o’clock on the disk- perhaps a cloud?

I really want to be able to zoom right in on that Valles Marineris- such an intriguing feature but alas 8.75” won’t do it 😉

My theory is the north pole ice cap is growing- it’s winter down there- and the ferocious cold is gathering clouds of condensing gasses giving that blueish brightening down there.

So glad it wasn’t opposition last year as I’d have not been ready for it- Mars is better than I ever imagined and maybe it’s the covid clarity still helping us but the views are really very good indeed- spectacular even!

Mark

Hi Nick, lovely report and sketches

49 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

Focus on the ice cap and wait until the surface comes to view. Just don't keep fiddling with it

yep! it’s funny isn’t it how the detail just seems to pop into view- not sure if it’s related to the seeing or just how our brains work- integrating the image detail over time. I’ve enthusiastically shown others the amazing view of mars but usually they shrug their shoulders unable to see the detail- it definitely needs time and patience to see!

54 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

I settle at x240 with an old school heavyweight ,5mm Vixen LVW and a single polarising filter

does a single polariser help? Do you have to rotate it to best position? 

Mark

45 minutes ago, John said:

I've split Antares twice. Once with my 12 inch dob and once with my 5.1 inch triplet frac.

it was my silly little joke John- I think Antares is fairly straight forward for Geoff down under 😉

The double double’s easy! you wanna try Antares- oh wait 🤔😂

Sorry to hear that Peter

Take care

Mark

2 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I found the ADC to offer an improvement but not a game changer. 

Hi Peter, I didn’t get out till after midnight and didn’t bother with the adc this time- Mars was pretty high and the colour smear was already minimal and acceptable. It’s a shame the other planets don’t follow Mars trajectory! No filters required either last night. Glad you got a night of better seeing too!

Mark

Last night, between light un-forecast cloudage I was blessed with what i suspect was “perfect” seeing- at least the features were so etched that I don’t suppose my scope could resolve any more. Stunning it was. Now I could see a dark hook coming up from the N polar region- the pole itself a bluish bright cloudy region, and where there was a notch the night previous, now I could resolve a tadpole shaped island beneath the main dark region. At times the main dark region seemed to extend up to the S pole although there was still a distinct main dark area. The sketch was done after the event from memory so not really to scale and maybe a little exaggerated! 

Mark

I live in bortle 8/9 London so feel your pain and this is only my second year at it but there’s still quite a lot to see from these skies. My advice would be get some low power binoculars to help see more of the constellations and get to know your way around the sky finding the brighter dsos etc, double stars etc like Cosmic Geoff suggested, enjoy the planets when you can and see if you can find a local group to join who maybe do expeditions to darker skies you could hitch a ride with. By the time you can drive (you didn’t say how long that will be) you’ll have a good foundation and a whole new universe of things to discover. By that time you’ll also likely have built up a collection of decent kit to enjoy it with. Good luck and clear skies!

Mark

56 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Thanks Mark. I was observing at around midnight, the orientation was different (I flipped it to match the Mars Mapper image), but the same details. What equipment were you using?

I only really use one scope Rob- my fullerscope. I was out later than you which explains it- hadn’t realised how fast Mars turns- well it’s only slightly slower than we’re turning so when i packed up 2hrs later it would have turned a good 30deg or so revealing the finger features I saw- I think i must have been seeing that same notch only it had moved further to the left by then.

Mark

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice sketch. I agree it can be hard to put a name to a feature, some maps flat out contradict each other!

These are two I've found online that I use regularly, I think the colour one is credit to Damian Peach but can't for the life of me find who did the b/w one.

 

It’s a shame the SS mars globe isn’t better labelled and more detailed- the identifiers they use are huge circles that encompass vast areas so it’s not very useful. Hope they update/upgrade if at some point

1 minute ago, jock1958 said:

I might be using it incorrectly?

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

1 hour ago, Highburymark said:

Excellent post! May you have many great sessions to come.
You might find that you get better views without a paved area - particularly if it’s absorbed a lot of heat during the day. 

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

24 minutes ago, Pixies said:

have a look at this fab image:

You can see the 'fingers' as described.

You can also see the pale shades along the N-NE limb (well -I think it's NE). I've seen it mentioned that this is a Martian morning 'mist'

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!

51 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Neodymium now ordered from FLO 😃.

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

16 minutes ago, Pixies said:

This is what I saw:

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