What's up with Mars ?

[cotterless45]

Should be ace,

However although I've squeezed details out at x200 and higher , it's been difficult. What is curious is that as soon as it appears , it's very clean and clear. Then as it climbs it wobbles and fuzzes out. Most curious as usually as planets climb the ecliptic they usually get easier. This is away from houses and the heat of town.

Just have to grab it low, all these wonderful things and the problem comes in the last mile and a half of the light path !

Nick.

[nightfisher]

I had a quick look at mars last night with my Tal, but struggled to get any detail, i have to say i dont tend to bother with mars for this very reason

[chiltonstar]

It's still pretty clear I would say in the moments of good seeing (but a bit dusty now perhaps - see image)

I took a series of avis, which all showed periods of calm, but with a "wavy seeing effect every now and then as though seen through rippled glass.

Chris

[Marki]

Nick, that was exactly my experiience last night, but then I realised a front was mmoving across after a couple of hours of clear(ish) sky.. Mars pretty much suddently started bouncing all over the place and I lost any hint of detail. I looked up with my naked eye and I could see it twinkling like sirius. And then a wave of cloud moved in, so I packed up.

[Laurie61]

The Jet stream was busily blowing over us last night and although its not the only factor to consider, if it's around, then seeing will be no better than average. There is a similar set up tonight -   

The next Jet free night is Tuesday night /Wednesday morning -   

[faulksy]

i hate the jet stream

[Mike73]

i hate the jet stream

I hate the Romans! 

[alan potts]

Nick,

I only got a scope on to it on the 8th April for 2 hours and I didn't see any detail what so ever, most disappointing. The disc was sharp enough at any magnification, it was high enough but awful. I was using X160 up to X270 with the 180mm Mak, Jupiter and the Moon were superb but Mars didn't play ball.

Mars never garbs me like the two giants and I even prefer Venus even though there is little to see.

Alan

[gooseholla]

The only time I have ever enjoyed Mars was in 2012 when I first got my GOTO mount. I sat and tracked it for a while and did some sketches of it. Other than that, I don't really bother with it.

[Moonshane]

the detail has been pretty good for me

this last night at 180x in the 12" f4

[todd8137]

Nice mars detail not getting nothing like that with my 16" dob

Pat

[Moonshane]

try an aperture mask.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/143780-aperture-mask-for-16-f4-dobsonian/

[Uplooker]

I had really good views of Mars last night. The seeing was pretty good and I was able to detect a lot of detail at 226x with an 8" SCT.

Ian

Sent from ma fone using Tapatalk

[faulksy]

pants for me. i could just make out the polar cap now and then, and some of the dark regions, but it was just so bright, might try a mask like shane said

[Rustysplit]

Last night It was pretty decent for me. Shane's sketch shows EXACTLEY what I was seeing at 225X at about 11.30pm. Much steadier than it had been on previous evenings. This was in the 14" dob with no mask, and an 8mm Radian ep.

[John]

I got this with my 4" refractor a couple of nights back. The image to the right is the Calsky simulation of what such an aperture could show at that time. I've got the ED120 refractor out at the moment but the seeing does not look so good from the views of double stars I've had while waiting for Mars to rise up a bit. We will see ....

[Moonshane]

thanks for mentioning Calsky John

had never used it until you mentioned it the other night

[John]

thanks for mentioning Calsky John

had never used it until you mentioned it the other night

I've only recently "discovered" it myself Shane - thanks to it being mentioned by another member here !

The only thing I'm wary of with it is the interpretation of the areas of Mars which pop up when you move the cursor around the simulated image. Some are accurate but some would be well below the visual threshold despite being in that vicinity on the planet.

[Moonshane]

good point John. like you (maybe most) I always do the sketch and then see if what I thought I saw matches anything. either I am getting better or the seeing has been decent recently as my sketches are not too far off usually. would be nice to get even more detail though before it's on its way again for a couple of years.

[chiltonstar]

Certainly a stunning view again tonight at x250, despite the nearby Moon giving some background scatter. Interesting that at times the features to the W and NW look almost linear enough to be canals....what an idea!

Chris

[John]

The red planet is looking pretty nice right now. I've got the ED120 refractor out and the 3.5mm Pentax XW in the drawtube for 257x. Some crisp details showing and strong colour contrasts. For a change I've got the frac on a driven EQ mount so I don't have to nudge it. The angle the scope is at is making working out the relative positioning of the features slightly confusing for an observer much more used to the straight up and down, side to side orientation of the alt-az mounting

[RikM]

It wasn't so good for me tonight unfortunately.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/213889-mars-1342014/