Observing Mars for the First Time.

[Codz]

I caught sight of Mars earlier and was able to resolve it as a a small red disk/pinhead with my 102mm Frac. Will features become apparent eventually? It was awesome none the less.

[David Smith]

I used a 60mm refractor for many years and enjoyed some great views of Mars so I am sure you will see some markings as the planet gets closer. Enjoy.

[ronin]

You should see more as time progresses however last year there were many that expected better views of Mars and didn't get them.

Bit of a strange one. I recall wondering what that odd red star was in the morning and after 3 days realising it might be a red planet that had sort of wandered into the sky.

Remember that Mars may be relatively close to us but it is a small planet. It also has it's own atmosphere that light has to get through. Might be good seeing conditions here but awful there.

If I recall quite a few found that they had better results if they fitted an IR filter

[dweller25]

Mars is still a very long distance away so will show no real detail yet. Close to opposition you will see surface detail with your 4" scope - assuming there are no Martian dust storms.

Really Mars needs a minimum aperture of 8" to see reasonable detail for a good length of time before and after opposition.

[John]

At its closest at this opposition (March 2012) Mars will show an apparent diameter of 13.89 arc seconds. Jupiters apparent diameter is around 49 arc seconds at the moment and Saturn around 44 arc seconds (including the rings) for comparison.