Amazing Mars

[kerrylewis]

The best views yet of Mars for this apparition last night. The sky was very hazy with thin high cloud but I had set up the SCT so decided to have a look at Jupiter and the  GRS transit. It was immediately clear that seeing was good with lots of detail and the whole disc very steady. So I swung over to Mars even though it was still not very high. Wow! Whereas previously I have had to tease out the detail with prolonged viewing, the details were immediately obvious.

The dark shapes had clear cut edges and the very small polar cap was obvious where it has not been recently. In between the dark areas were various lighter shades.

The 10mm Delos gave the best view (x235). I tried greater magnification with the 6mm Radian (x392) but although the view was good it was not sharper so I stuck with the Delos.

I also tried various colour filters and although some did improve contrast they were not really needed and I preferred the 'natural' view with its salmon pink tinge and the real sense of looking at a rocky planet out there. The cloud was obviously taking the edge of the brightness and making viewing much more comfortable. 

I do crude scribbles to record the overall patterns so that I can compare them later with the planetarium image for the time - see the page from my log. I'm pleased that I noted the gap in the southern area. perhaps I'll try a real sketch if we get conditions like that again (that would be a first!)

I sat for about two hours entranced on my little ironing stool (no use trying to find Ceres and Vesta as I had planned). Mrs L was asleep but i wished that I could have shared it with others . Perhaps they would then understand why we pursue this hobby through nights when the planet is bobbing about like one of those  pingpong balls on a water jet in a shooting gallery (as it did recently).

One to remember and who cares that it clouded over before Saturn appeared! 

Sorry - don't know why the image is sideways - its right way up on the computer! 

[John]

Hi Kerry,

Nice report   . It was great to meet you at SGL9 - we could have done with some of this viewing last week !

Here's what I got with my 102mm refractor Kerry - I do the same as you, rough sketch to compare with the Calsky simulation:

[kerrylewis]

I see that you saw that gap as well John. This shows that the seeing was good because the best I've had so far has been fairly amorphous dark areas - but I was still pleased to see those at the time

It was good to meet you too - I had great neighbours!

Cheers

Kerry