Bad Mars

[Orange Haze]

Morning All

Just been out for my first morning obs session in ages. (Two jumpers, a dressing gown and my coat!) Had the chance to see Saturn for the first time in over a year which was a huge treat, however.....

Mars appeared to me as a kind of refracted bright red set of blobs. Seemed to be three pinpricks joined together at x80. If I looked off centre the picture improved but ideally I prefer to look at the objects I am observing if possible. I couldn't even resolve a disc shape. I wasn't expecting detail at that mag, but a small disc shape would have been great.

Has anyone had this kind of trouble with Mars before? I am ordering a 10" Dob very soon and wondered if I need to add some kind of filter to go along with it in order to tame Mars!

Clear skies All. Lee.

[itmo]

Sounds like you looked it through a bit of bad atmosphere, jupiter was like a little forrest stream here last night. Flowing and twinkling. Its moons were in triplicate. 

[Orange Haze]

May have been a spot of bad air I suppose. Saturn was so clear that I expected Mars to behave itself as well. Triplicate was the word I was looking for before.

[Pete Presland]

sounds like terrible seeing conditions, i am glad it was cloudy here   i have never experienced conditions where i could not make out the disc though, what was it like on other objects?

[Orange Haze]

Well I only really focused on Saturn and Mars and Saturn was sweet. Although I did accidentally point the scope as a couple of stars before finding the planets and they were a bit spikey. Perhaps with Saturn being less bright it was easier to see. .?.

[cotterless45]

Try a SW Uhc filter. Not only will it serve you we'll with planets but also nebulae. However it will not enhance the view if the seeing is bad,

Nick.

[Orange Haze]

Thanks Nick. Shouldn't complain that Mars is too bright really, but I will certainly look at that filter when I order the scope.

[Delboy_Hog]

I did have a similar thing with mars but must have been a month or so ago. I was trying to get my first image of it, but it was foaming and sparking around so much I couldn't make out the disc at any magnification.

I think it only takes a neighbour's boiler outlet or an uninsulated roof to be under your target and it can shred the seeing completely, so I would put it down to that or something similar, especially if Saturn behaved for you.

Sounds like a good morning though. I've yet to see Saturn this time around but really looking forward to the session where it pops back into the eye piece. Guarenteed grin on my face every time!

[kerrylewis]

I usually get the same results with Mars but one morning a few days ago it was much crisper with the polar cap shiny and bright and a hint of dark markings. With such a small disc the seeing is always going to make a big difference and it was excellent that day.

When I turned to Saturn it was also very good despite its low altitude

Kerry

[Eastridge]

We have a 10" dob and saw Mars very we^ll last year , detail and ice caps.  Were still very much beginnners with it at that stage.  That was before had a UHC filter so it will help but definitely not 'required'.

[Orange Haze]

Thanks guys. I know she is a difficult target and I look forward to the day when I focus my new dob on it and see the polar ice cap for the first time. That'll be a buzz moment.

The other thing id add is how unfamiliar the sky was to me at 6am. Im used to observing in the evening and am usually ok -ish at navigating my way around, but this morning I have to admit to feeling a little lost. But as they say, every day is a school day.

[Peter Drew]

You really need good enough seeing conditions to use at least 200x to get a decent view of Mars at present due to its small apparent size. 

[Tonys]

Mars isn't exactly the easiest of planets! Often small (like now) and even at opposition it's angular diameter varies so much. Nice to see the polar cap though, especially through my refractor. It really sparkles on a good night.

[Moonshane]

Basically what Peter said. with a short achro refractor though it's going to be a challenge. I find a Baader neodymium filter helps a lot with my newts on Jupiter, Mars and moon. you'll get far better views through the 10" dob.

[Nigele2]

You really need good enough seeing conditions to use at least 200x to get a decent view of Mars at present due to its small apparent size. 

Hope you don't mind Orange haze but am I right in thinking Mars just gets better through to 2018?    I read it is in 2014 at best 92 million Ks but in 2018 will be just 58 milliom Ks.  Does that mean at prime time with same scope, EP and viewing conditions it will look 50% bigger or are the mathmatics not linear?

I'd love to see the frozen pole and hope I don't have to upgrade to a 10" to do so.   Although visiting a fellow member in Devon could be an alternative 

[Moonshane]

it's possible to see the ice caps at much lower than 200x but you need patience and good seeing.

[Orange Haze]

Hope you don't mind Orange haze but am I right in thinking Mars just gets better through to 2018?    I read it is in 2014 at best 92 million Ks but in 2018 will be just 58 milliom Ks.  Does that mean at prime time with same scope, EP and viewing conditions it will look 50% bigger or are the mathmatics not linear?

I'd love to see the frozen pole and hope I don't have to upgrade to a 10" to do so.   Although visiting a fellow member in Devon could be an alternative 

It's a great question that. I assume that if Mars was 10% closer it would appear 10% larger! but perhaps there is some reason why that isn't the case. I know Mars is supposed to be good in April this year so I'm hoping for a clear night or two to finally get the better of it then. But I did not know about it's relatively short pass by us in 2018. Now that is something to look forward to.

[John]

At it's opposition on 8th April this year Mars disk will have an apparent diameter of 15 arc seconds. For comparison Jupiter's disk is around 44 arc seconds in diameter currently I think. On it's July 27 2018 opposition Mars disk will reach 24.3 arc seconds in diameter.

As well as the apparent size of the disk, the altitude of the planet will affect the quality of viewing. The lower it is, the more atmosphere we have to observe though and the harder it is to get sharp, steady contrasty views of it's disk.

It is undoubtedly a more challenging target than Jupiter or Saturn but I reckon the Red Planet does hold a special fascination