Gearing up for Mars July 2018

[Stu]

27 minutes ago, Philip R said:

Me too! I'm between Reading & Wokingham.

Small world! I shall be in Wokingham today at my parents, I grew up there  

[Stu]

Bear in mind for Mars that dark skies are not that important, good seeing is. Get somewhere where you are on grass, not observing over houses or any other sources of heat such as tarmac or concrete. Get your cooling and collimation sorted out too, those are the things that will make most difference.

I’ve found that a Baader Neodymium Filter can help cut the glare and help with contrast on Mars, so that is worth trying. I have some reasonable views in 2003 in a 6” Newt (bird-jones design) which struggled with higher powers but still saw some decent detail. I love viewing Mars; being able to see polar caps, frosting and dark features so that it looks like a red version of earth is quite amazing!

[GavStar]

23 hours ago, paulastro said:

Yes, certainly looking forward to it - event of the year for me.  Especially with the total lunar eclipse on opposition night.   I'll be using my Astro-Tech 102ED and SW 180 Mak. 

  

 

I'll struggle to see it from home at opposition so have  a nice site about five minutes drive way I can go to if needs must - Peniston Hill Country Park.  There's a good car park near the top which could take 30 plus cars and is flat with loads of room to set up equipment.  Also triangulation point is a great spot with a 360 degree panoramic view - though you have to walk a little way with your equipment.

https://www.bradford.gov.uk/media/2055/penistonehillheritagetrail.pdf

I'll also be targeting my annual pilgrimage to Kelling Heath on September 6th.  At this time Mars is still very favourable and still 20 " across.  With the likely more favourable weather and seeing conditions at Kelling I'm likely to extend my four night stay for two or three nights or so if the weather is good.

Can't wait!!

That Astrotech scope looks rather nice ?

[GavStar]

20 minutes ago, Stu said:

Bear in mind for Mars that dark skies are not that important, good seeing is. Get somewhere where you are on grass, not observing over houses or any other sources of heat such as tarmac or concrete. Get your cooling and collimation sorted out too, those are the things that will make most difference.

I’ve found that a Baader Neodymium Filter can help cut the glare and help with contrast on Mars, so that is worth trying. I have some reasonable views in 2003 in a 6” Newt (bird-jones design) which struggled with higher powers but still saw some decent detail. I love viewing Mars; being able to see polar caps, frosting and dark features so that it looks like a red version of earth is quite amazing!

I’ve got some unused televue mars a and b filters - it would be nice to give these a try out at last...?

Seeing the polar caps is my key aim for mars this year.

[Trikeflyer]

Looking forward to this. I've not seen Mars yet. I will be in Lanzarote in August but without a scope ☹️. Does anybody know anyone who will be in Lanzarote in August with a scope ? Or does anyone live out there with access to a scope? I will of course also view from the uk but i know Lanzarote will offer a higher altitude. 

Steve 

[GavStar]

On 29/04/2018 at 10:12, GavStar said:

I’ve got some unused televue mars a and b filters - it would be nice to give these a try out at last...?

Seeing the polar caps is my key aim for mars this year.

Cloudynights posters appear to like the Baader constrast booster for Mars - anyone got any experience of this filter with mars? I can see my trip to tenerife being a bit of a mars filter test ?

[mikeDnight]

This set-up has already proved its worth on the red planet, so I think I'm sorted! 

[Littleguy80]

On 4/30/2018 at 15:37, GavStar said:

Cloudynights posters appear to like the Baader constrast booster for Mars - anyone got any experience of this filter with mars? I can see my trip to tenerife being a bit of a mars filter test ?

I got up in the small hours for a planetary session last night. Most of the viewing was with a 7mm Meade RG Ortho, seemed to be the right mag for the poor seeing, and a Neodymium filter. Ice cap was a pretty easy spot and there also seemed to be a darker area on the opposite pole to the ice cap. However, the point of the post, is that I then tried my Baader Contrast Booster. The main differences between this and the Neodymium, to my eye, is that you get a deeper red colour and the darker region seemed to be better defined. I wasn't a fan of this filter on Jupiter as adds quite a strong yellow colour. I preferred the more natural colour from using the Neodymium. I suspect it's the yellow tint that gives Mars the deeper red. It will be interesting to see if more detail comes from this filter as we get closer to opposition.

[GavStar]

47 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

I got up in the small hours for a planetary session last night. Most of the viewing was with a 7mm Meade RG Ortho, seemed to be the right mag for the poor seeing, and a Neodymium filter. Ice cap was a pretty easy spot and there also seemed to be a darker area on the opposite pole to the ice cap. However, the point of the post, is that I then tried my Baader Contrast Booster. The main differences between this and the Neodymium, to my eye, is that you get a deeper red colour and the darker region seemed to be better defined. I wasn't a fan of this filter on Jupiter as adds quite a strong yellow colour. I preferred the more natural colour from using the Neodymium. I suspect it's the yellow tint that gives Mars the deeper red. It will be interesting to see if more detail comes from this filter as we get closer to opposition.

Interesting - so you preferred the contrast booster to the neodymium on mars? I agree that the neodymium is the best filter I’ve found for Jupiter (and I’ve tried a few including the televue planetary filter).

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, GavStar said:

Interesting - so you preferred the contrast booster to the neodymium on mars? I agree that the neodymium is the best filter I’ve found for Jupiter (and I’ve tried a few including the televue planetary filter).

I'm fairly neutral at this point, the gains of the contrast booster were quite small. I'd like to give it a try with steadier seeing and see if more details comes out with it. I think part of the appeal of the contrast booster is the colour it adds. Mars looks properly red. I'd definitely use it when showing my kids Mars as I think it'll more closely match their expectations.

[Mrastronomer101]

I have never seen Mars at oppostion in 2003 because I wasn’t into astronomy back then. At least this year I will have a 10 inch dob so it will be fun! Good luck and hope you have a good time.

[Stu]

On 30/04/2018 at 15:37, GavStar said:

Cloudynights posters appear to like the Baader constrast booster for Mars - anyone got any experience of this filter with mars? I can see my trip to tenerife being a bit of a mars filter test ?

A good comparison at opposition with Mars at decent altitude would be interesting to read. I’ve not used a contrast booster but have found benefit in the Neodymium filter.

I’ve used all three Televue planetary filters, the Planetary and the Mars A and B. They basically appear to be increasingly severe in their filtering and with a deeper orange/red bias to the band pass. I enjoyed the views, with the sky background very dark with the B in particular, and a lovely deep colour to the planet, but am not convinced I actually saw any more with them! I think the B brings out the dark markings well but killed off the polar caps/frosting if I remember correctly. A was a good compromise.

[RT65CB-SWL]

12 hours ago, Stu said:

A good comparison at opposition with Mars at decent altitude would be interesting to read. I’ve not used a contrast booster but have found benefit in the Neodymium filter.

+1 @Stu

I have both the Baader Contrast Booster & Baader Neodymium. The Neodymium was the winner in 2003 & 2014. Below is a photo (handheld afocal compact digital) of Mars during 2014 from a hotel garden near LHR. Equipment used was my C6/xlt, 6mm TV Radian & Neodymium filter - camera was an Olympus C2040 zoomed optically to the max [3x], (not digital zoom - see the note at the end). Unfortunately, Mars was having a dust storm at the time, hence the reason for not much planetary surface detail visible at the time, but if you look at the planet disc long enough there is some, albeit slightly faint. 

 <--- Mars, April 2014

 

Below is my 'first' digital astrophoto. Equipment for the photo was my TeleVue Ranger, 6mm TV Radian and no filter - camera was a Ricoh RDC6000. The view through the e/p was better than shown in the photo. 

 <--- Mars, July 2003
 

 

 

 

note: A digital camera optical zoom and digital zoom do affect image quality. See here ---> https://www.photoxels.com/digital-photography-tutorials/optical-digital-zoom/

[Dave1]

Hi everyone, I have yet to invest in filters, but I will do. I have read that Magenta filters are suppose to be good for Mars? Has anyone have any experience using a magenta filter on Mars?

[MarsG76]

Even into mid September Mars is giving me amazing views... a few nights ago, what I saw at 406X in my 8" SCT made me sure that the storm has settled down.. the surface detail I saw was AMAZING!!!!!