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Mars For First Time

Duns

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Duns

Duns

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I managed to see Mars for the first time tonight and I was well impressed even although it was low down, full moon and max mag only 72 x.

I also managed my first double Mizar and Alcor which I believe are very easy to split - I got very distinct separation at 72x so well pleased bearing in mind the full moon lighting up the heavens.

Off to bed now very happy :(

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Nosivad

Nosivad

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Hi Duns. Yes you can see Mizar and Alcor as a distinct pair with the naked eye, although probably not with a full moon around. In 2009 it was shown that Alcor itself is a binary although we could not detect that with our amateur equipment.

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Duns

Duns

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Todd you are right it was just a orange dot but a nice orange dot - I am assuming with better magnification and Mars a bit closer, with my gear I might at some time in the future manage to get some detail - I'm about to receive (today I hope) a Celestron X-Cel LX 7 mm EP and a Tal 2x Barlow - with good seeing I am hoping to pick out some detail

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Porl

Porl

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ace! Mars is one im still waiting to see, hopefully i'll get to see it from my new garden, im hoping mars wont be too low down :S

Can you get much detail out of Mars yet? does it need to swing round a bit closer to us really?

Porl''

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John

John

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Can you get much detail out of Mars yet? does it need to swing round a bit closer to us really?

Mars is currently rather small and I've just been able to make out the northern polar cap and a dark surface marking or two. That was at 180x with my ED120 refractor.

Mars will get gradually a little bigger until it reaches opposition in early March but is not going to be any more than approx 1/4 the apparent diameter of Jupiter this time around, unfortunately.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Twice this past week i have seen Mars and thought to myself "Oh well maybe next time it will be better".

Ive seen it many times over the last few years and in my opinion it never does get better. Ive seen a polar cap once in my life on the surface of Mars. Nothing else.

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bullettooth

bullettooth

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ive been out till 4:30am and it still didnt get any better. but the thing i stayed up that long to see was absolutely amazing. what was it?.....SATURN. best thing ive viewed so far. definately worth the wait and the tiredness the next day :icon_scratch:

or you could just set your alarm for 6:30.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Saturn.................

Now that is a planet worth staying up very late for or waiting a few months til it is an evening object.

6:30am?

I'm only going to bed at that time. Guess i should stay up longer and have a gander at it.

Yet to see it with the 8SE.

First time i saw it was with a 90EQ..........blew my socks off. Second time i saw it was with a Heritage 130P. I had to buy new socks cuz mine went into orbit.

Cant wait to see it with 8SE (200mm SCT).

I'll probably never wear socks again.

Jupiter right now is just amazing.

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bullettooth

bullettooth

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Saturn.................

Now that is a planet worth staying up very late for or waiting a few months til it is an evening object.

6:30am?

I'm only going to bed at that time. Guess i should stay up longer and have a gander at it.

Yet to see it with the 8SE.

First time i saw it was with a 90EQ..........blew my socks off. Second time i saw it was with a Heritage 130P. I had to buy new socks cuz mine went into orbit.

Cant wait to see it with 8SE (200mm SCT).

I'll probably never wear socks again.

Jupiter right now is just amazing.

hahaha. yeah i had that very same feeling, was soo excited i could barely sleep that night.

i only have a skyhawk 1141 with standard ep's and was amazed. cant wait to get some better ep's so i can see it even better. :icon_scratch:

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Stu

Stu

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Hi Duns

Just wondering whether you also managed to split Mizar itself? Mizar and Alcor are relatively easy with the naked eye, but Mizar is also a relatively close double which is fun to split. All three stars are also doubles but too close to split other than spectroscopically I believe.

This was one of the first things I ever observed and I normally manage a peak at it when I'm out.

This link has a good image of it.

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BIGDIP.HTM

Cheers

Stu

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

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I had an awful night lastnight, didn't get to sleep till 2, then woke up at 4 sweating my ****** off. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours and finally deciding i wasn't going to get back to sleep, i suddenly realised Saturn would be about, and i've NEVER seen it.

So i drag myself out of bed, feeling like ****, get to the window.... Cloudy.

So i climb back into bed, even more annoyed now, and all i could think about was the ridiculous day at work i had to embark on (10am-4pm, 6pm-10:30pm).

Stupid weather. :icon_scratch:

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I had an awful night lastnight, didn't get to sleep till 2, then woke up at 4 sweating my ****** off. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours and finally deciding i wasn't going to get back to sleep, i suddenly realised Saturn would be about, and i've NEVER seen it.

So i drag myself out of bed, feeling like ****, get to the window.... Cloudy.

So i climb back into bed, even more annoyed now, and all i could think about was the ridiculous day at work i had to embark on (10am-4pm, 6pm-10:30pm).

Stupid weather. :icon_scratch:

I had the same kind of night. Cloud/clear/cloudy/clear.

5am i was wide awake tossing and turning so decided to have a go at Saturn.......

Cloudy as hell, so i crawled back into bed. Stupid dog woke me at 8am barking her backside off at the postman.

Honestly..............ive done my best over the yrs to observe Mars and it just doesnt cut the mustard for me.

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Duns

Duns

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Hi Stu - what a newbie I am :icon_scratch:

Your image is exactly what I got - I thought Alcor was the star right next to Mizar LOL So yes I did manage to split Mizar itself. I was wondering why it was commented on that it was a naked eye double - I couldn't see how that was possible even with dark sky, excellent seeing and 20/20 vision. I'm even more happy now :D

Thanks Stu

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Duns

Duns

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Stu - I also did a calc estimating field of view as the FOV of my current EPs is not given and I got the separation of what I know know to be Alcor at 14 arc minutes - so not to far out there :icon_scratch:

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Stu

Stu

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Excellent stuff. Can't claim the image as anything to do with me, just a link I found off google.

Well done for the separation estimate too, pretty accurate.

Give Gamma Andromadae and Almach (in Cygnus) are both good doubles to try

Stu

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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Puzzled by what you split.

Mizar and Alcor can be seen as seperate with good eye sight or from a dark site with not so good eyesight.:D:D

Distinct pair with 8x binoculars.

Did you have to use 72x or was that just what you happened to have?:icon_scratch:

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Duns

Duns

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Hi Capricorn

I'm just a newbie but it appears that I split Mizar into a double Mizar A and Mizar B which are separated by 14 seconds of arc.

72x is the highest mag I have until new EP and Barlow arrive - hopefully soon.

Stu (BigMacStutov) posted above on this thread an image which was basically what was in my FOV

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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This is APPARENTLY what Mars should look like (size more so than detail) in my 8" SCT using an 8mm EP and a 2x barlow.

Let me assure you right now that the size of Mars through my scope using an 8mm EP and a 2x barlow doesnt even come CLOSE to this.

It appears as about 1/4 the size if not less:

Jupiter is about that size without the barlow.

post-18019-133877715342_thumb.jpg

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Stu

Stu

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What's the app Paul? Does it pull info from the web or is it a standalone program on your pc?

If standalone, try and find a date setting to check. If online, not sure, does it have other planets you could check?

Stu

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