Some tips for Mars

[Star Tracer]

Hello, I was planning on getting up real early tomorrow since Mars doesn't rise here till after 4:00 in the morning. Before I get myself up i was wondering if id even see mars. I am in a fairly heavily light populated city. I can see Jupiter still as a bright star so will Mars be a bright star to? My telescope is the Celestron Astromaster 900 focal length 70 mm. Ive got a 10 mm lense and 20 mm lense. Is mars bright enough this time of year or should i wait?

[spaceboy]

You will see it but sadly I doubt very much it would be worth getting out of bed for in a 70mm scope.

[Ben Ritchie]

According to Stellarium it's only 5" across at the moment, so you'll struggle to see much - Mars is a bit tricky at the best of times, better to wait until it's closer in December-January.

[Star Tracer]

What about uranus? Id be happy with just a blue star if thats all i could see. I am fixing to upgrade to a 6 inch dob reflector.

[spaceboy]

My son has the same scope as you and on a good mount it isn't that bad given how much they are new. This said I took it to a dark site and my 15x70's out performed it by miles. For this reason I doubt the views you'd get would be worth the effort it takes to line up the astromaster RD finder on to Uranus. The planet is a small disk in my 8" Newt so I can only imagine it to be a point of light in a 70mm frak. Same I would think for Neptune and Mars. Mars is the smallest I have seen it for a long time but Jupiter is nearing opposition so this would be your best target and obviously the moon. I have seen some of the larger brighter DSO's in the 70mm so you could always give some of them a try. Do you have Stellarium ? Stellarium

[Star Tracer]

Ive been getting some good shots of Jupiter. Any way thanks for the advice yall, ya probably saved me a good nights sleep lol. Oh yeah i do have Stelleraium

[vegaandarctures]

You will see it but sadly I doubt very much it would be worth getting out of bed for in a 70mm scope.

Not entirely true, I have seen the surface major with a 70mm and the polar cap with a few other dark markings when at opposition. Not a good target at the moment though its only about 5 arc seconds in diameter.

[spaceboy]

Not entirely true, I have seen the surface major with a 70mm and the polar cap with a few other dark markings when at opposition. Not a good target at the moment though its only about 5 arc seconds in diameter.

I somehow thought someone would pull me up on this and I should maybe have been more specific. Pit falls of knowing in my mind what I mean but not conveying it across in text very well.

Going off experiences of using an Astromaster 70 , given Mars's position at the moment and my recent views of it in a 200p I doubt very much it would be worth getting out of bed for.

[Charon]

When will Mars be at it's 'best' for viewing?

[Klesk14]

When will Mars be at it's 'best' for viewing?

Mars should be at opposition by early March. I would imagine this to be a great time to observe/photograph the planet.

[Ben Ritchie]

When will Mars be at it's 'best' for viewing?

According to the numbers I have, it appears larger than 10" between Jan 12th and April 30th next year, opposition is March 3rd at magnitude -1.23 and closest approach is March 5th when the apparent diameter is 13.89".

[vegaandarctures]

Going off experiences of using an Astromaster 70 , given Mars's position at the moment and my recent views of it in a 200p I doubt very much it would be worth getting out of bed for.

Oops I see what you meant now.

[che guevara]

looks like its a lie in mate !

[Nexus 6]

Although Mars will look better next year it is still a brilliant sight naked eye if only for that distinctive reddish tone it gives, I have seen it a few times recently, with the approaching winter skies and Orion in particular showing well around 4.00 am plus Jupiter over to the West gives a brilliant naked eye sight

[Charon]

What type of view of Mars might I expect to get with my telescope?

[Admiral Crispy]

Well, in my 10" Dob, I can see a 2mm-ish diameter disc at around 200x, and the polar cap at the moment is really obvious to see even then. You may even see dark black some markings as well, very close to it as well. At 300x, the disc size increases to about 3mm in size, and everything looks a bit more obvious.

The only problem is that seeing conditions are crucial in spotting anything, as sometimes Mars looks like a red smudgy dot, with a white spot hanging off it if seeing is poor.

In summary, its like looking at Uranus, but with some detail to see, but not a great deal other than the ice cap, and a major band