Question about Mars

[blueroom]

Last night I made an effort to see Mars for the 1st time through my telescope. So after locating it with my iphone I pointed my scope to it but I must admit I was a little disappointed.

All I could see was a very pale orange disc. I was expecting a more orangey colour, but it was quite low in the sky and the moon was quite bright so maybe that impacted on my viewing.

So can I expect to see anything better than this or is this the best Mars gets?

I was thinking maybe I'm not looking at Mars lol, but I'm pretty sure it was, it didn't twinkle like a star it just looked like a pale orange disc.

Thanks.

[russ]

If it was disk then it was Mars

Mars is a tricky little blighter to view. Its very small at the moment, so high power is needed. Best to wait and let it climb into the sky. You can then pile on the magnification. I've had no trouble seeing the polar cap and dark markings, and that was last month when it was even smaller. So with the right conditions and with Mars at its highest you should get a better view. Just remember, Mars demands that you spend a good amount of time at the eyepiece allowing the eyes to adjust and see the detail. Its the one planet that will not reward a quick 5 minute glimpse. 

The good news is Mars is still growing in size at the moment, so its not at its best for a while yet.

[Langy]

I think it is about another month before Mars will be at its closest this time round, then you have to wait another two years.

A useful link I found is http://www.theplanetstoday.com/ where you can get a rough visual view on where all the planets are as we all orbit our star.

There will be other factors as to when viewing is better like the time of year as to how we are tilted. For example I think that our view of Saturn is on the downward slope before it starts to get better again because of our tilt.

[John]

As Russ says it will get a bit larger by early April but it's low altitude is going to remain a challenge. I managed to see the north pole cap and a couple of the the darker features on the disk a few days ago with my ED120 scope but it was quite hard work teasing those details out. 

Russ's phrase "tricky little blighter" is very apt I feel 

[jnb]

When were you looking? At the moment Mars transits about 02:00 and even then it will only reach about 30° altitude. If you were trying before midnight then it would be very low. Add to that the fact that it is still quite far away and it will be hard to get a good view at present. I was trying recently with an 8" and even then the low altitude meant it was effectively unobservable.

[blueroom]

Thanks guys that's really useful info.

I was observing at about midnight and just after.

So as Mars gets nearer to us do you see more colour? I was expecting to see an orange/red disc last night but it was just a very pale orange. Does the moon effect the colour too?

[AndyWB]

I was out a few weeks ago at 0400, and yes, it was a colour I'd call 'sandstone', and a little disc. I watched for a while and realised I was able to make out a couple of slightly darker patches on the surface - they came and went a bit. I don't think I managed the polar cap, though.

I did think it was quite colourful, but not very detailed

[knobby]

I had a peek last night at about 11 last night and despite it dancing around in the ep it was a definite orangey hue

[oldpink]

taken about  1:30 this morning under difficult conditions

[AndyWB]

That's just like what I saw! But bigger! Much bigger!

[oldpink]

got mostly clear skys tonight again
little bit of high whispy cloud but forecast to pass soon and mars has just come up over the houses in front of me
so hopefully I can get another good run tonight, already got 60gb of Jupiter captures to process