whats mars like through a 127mm mak

[captaincaveman]

Just wondered what i could expect of mars through my mak, im not expecting much but wondered how much surface detail you can see on a good seeing night both here and with mars

Also, what kind of size apparent size?

[Pete Presland]

very small at the moment,put your scope deatails in this to get an idea.

Field of View Calculator | Sky at Night Magazine

[captaincaveman]

i tried that, mars is a pixel lol, when i put in jupiter, what i see is twice the size thats showing?

[dweller25]

here is how mars looked on the 19th August in an 8" Newtonian...

[captaincaveman]

could i expect similar in a 5" mak with a barlow?

could i get an image that i could make sketchs of darker regions?

[SiriusB]

could i expect similar in a 5" mak with a barlow?

could i get an image that i could make sketchs of darker regions?

No harm in keeping an eye on it, but Mars really is tiny at the momment.

Should get a bit more interesting after Christmas for owners of smaller scopes, when the apparent size will be double what it currently is.

[dweller25]

CC,

Your 5" Mak is capable of x200 which will be enough for sketching when Mars is close to opposition.

If you ensure the scope is well collimated and fully cooled you will see Martian surface markings.

You don't need a barlow, a good 7mm eyepiece is all you need to give a magnification of x214 which is plenty.

[captaincaveman]

cheers guys, roll on march next year:hello2:

[John]

Mars has a natural fascination for us but is a tough prospect to view through the sort of scopes that many of us own - especially if you have got used to the "luxury" of Saturn and especially Jupiter's large apparent disks

It's still well worth seeking out and giving some attention to but it's really quite a test of observer, scope and seeing conditions to pick out the details on it.

[captaincaveman]

The Position of Mars in the Night Sky: 2011 to 2012

[spaceboy]

March 2010 I was getting superb views of Mars in the 127 MAK. Polar caps and some contrasted detail were clearly visible. Mars is small even when it's at it's best but the MAK is more than capable of showing some detail. Unfortunately Mars is not at it's closest at the moment and it won't be for some time to come.

[ollypenrice]

At its best, in a 5 inch refractor, I've seen the tiny ice caps, a reddish surface and quite distinct blue-ish darker regions. It was better placed a couple of years ago, though. It never gets to be enormous!

Olly

[faulksy]

i seen it a couple of years ago seem to remember it was at its best in the west, could just make out its white polar caps in my 6"sw mak