Saturn and Mars

[Crossway]

Views of Mars using my small reflector and  20mm EP have been very poor indeed ......at best,  an indistinct  spot  and this was after some persistance and patience  covering several sessions.   I was inclined to blame the telescope and wondered if the collimation was at fault but apparently not so because  an opportunity to view Saturn  occured ( A  hole in the clouds !)  The contrast was amazing and I was able to view a good  image with the 20mm  which was  greatly improved by a change over to my 10mm EP.    A later view of Mars  was again very very disappointing.

What  reason could there be for this difference......  at present they are not all that far apart with Saturn in the South and Mars at  SouithWest and more or less at the same altitude  so prevailing atmospheric conditions should  apply eqally to both. Perhaps this is not the way it works though.  Would be grateful for help.

[Joves]

Mars is a difficult object to view, even in larger scopes. The image scale is very small when compared to that of Saturn and Jupiter (even though it is closer to us, it is far far smaller than the gas giants... Smaller than earth even, as a matter of fact) so takes quite a bit of magnification to discern any detail. This requires reasonable aperture to ensure too much light isn't lost in magnification. What size is your scope? With a 20mm EP, I'd suggest your image scale would have been very very small.

Mars is one where, even under the right conditions, with the right size scope and an appropriate eyepiece, it requires patience and practice to get the best from it. I say practice because the more you view it, and the longer you allow it to provide clarity through moments of exceptional seeing, the more reward it will provide you. Filters can help also, but conditions play the most important part. It took me a long time to appreciate the subtle detail this elusive little planet can provide, as it has done for many others also apparently, but now I love spending a nice amount of time with it.

Hope this helps.

Aaron

[stevend]

Mars is a lot smaller and dimmer than Saturn. Mars is very difficult to view, it needs high magnification (250x + ) to get detail and UK skies often do not allow that. But, now and again you can get good views at 150x as conditions change during the evening/night. With Mars you need to spend a lot of time at the EP to get glimpses of shadows or a Polar cap. Sometimes it all works out, but sadly not too often.

Saturn on the other is quite the opposite and take higher magnification much easier.

[stevend]

Mars by Qualia; well worth reading: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/213513-mars-observing-the-red-planet/

[Crossway]

Thank you for most helpful replies.  I am sorry  to hear that folks with much meatier scopes than mine ( 76mm )  have some problems with Mars too but  it is good to learn these facts.  I probably will not persevere  with attempts on Mars with my present set up  but  can continue to be astounded by views of Saturn.  Upgrading a small telescope with an additional decent EP  ( f6 ) say , may not be wise economy but I am tempted non the less.  Or perhaps a good  X 2 Barlow. 

Pete

[Astro Imp]

Mars is very frustrating, I spent many evenings and nearly gave up, before I finally saw faint detail and a polar cap. This view encouraged me to spend longer teasing out detail and while I didn't get good views every night the nights of good seeing made all the effort well worth while.

BTW this was all with a 6" scope at 150x.

Good luck.