Mars you teasing Jezebel

[2Karl]

Came home from the cinema rather late last night (watched Sicario 2: Soldado, which is very good btw), and was treated to the sight of Mars hanging low in the sky. It's not visible from my house so I loaded my telescope into my car and drove to the first point I could see it, which was a nearby side road on my estate, where I proceeded to set up. 

Putting aside any thoughts of how strange I might have looked pulling up and unloading a telescope at the side of the road, I turned my sights to the Red planet. My barlow and zoom combination had afforded me some great views of Jupiter and Saturn on previous nights so I was rather excited about observing mars for the first time.

Big and bright the god of war loomed in my eyepiece, but unfortunately the whole "planetwide dust storm" thing really spoils the view (who knew?) A large orange pea, still strangely beautiful, but nowhere near as fetching as the images I was hoping to see. I tried with my blue and red filters but was unable to pick out any additional detail. I don't know whether it was down to the fact that the planet was so low in the sky and potentially subject to atmospheric distortion, whether it was my lack of experience viewing the planet, the fact that I'd managed to get fingerprints on my filters, or just the fact that a planetwide dust storm REALLY spoils the view.

Still, I observed for a good while until the sound of some sort of bird/dinosaur/goblin shook me out of my trance and made me wonder how dangerous suburban UK is. I mean you hear stories about foxes, right?

I span round to view Saturn and was greeted with a phenomenal view of the ringed planet. This time I was able to make out the Cassini division. Not clearly, mind you, not a strong dark line, but there was a noticeable shift in colour towards the outside edges of the rings. Again, I'm not sure if this was down to the seeing conditions, my optics or my improved viewing experience, nor am I sure if this might improve in time without a more powerful telescope. We shall see.

At around midnight I realised that I needed to be up for work in 5 hours or so and decided to have another look at Albireo before turning in. The double stars looked as wonderful as they did that first night I saw them, orange and blue and clearly defined. Interestingly, I found I was better able to make out the Cygnus constellation than before, and also better able to make out the milky way. I put this down to increased experience combined with (perhaps) slightly darker skies as the nights get longer.

I plan to continue observing mars over the next few days (weather permitting) to see if I can note any changes. Should I be able to see the polar caps or are they "dusted" too? Cleaning my filters might afford better viewing. Stay tuned!

[David Levi]

Nice report, a good read. Great spontaneity to get out and observe.

[chiltonstar]

Mars a Jezebel? A tease certainly....... and not giving anything away at the moment.

With my 4" long-focus f13 frac last night you could just make out the whitening at the pole, and a faint patterning on the disk itself; in moments of better seeing, the polar cap was clear and the underlying darker patches on the disk a bit clearer. Saturn was indeed glorious, with a sharp Cassini, very clear disk on rings and ring on disk shadows and bands on the disk, and hints of more detail occasionally in the rings themselves. I did have a fox (well actually a vixen) visit as well, mainly concerned with practising its operatic arias in the next field. Far more of concern to me were a couple of lamping vehicles and occupants - I generally prefer foxes!

Chris 

[Special K]

I've not observed Mars yet this year with a scope but man is it bright!!  Lovely to see this variability.  Hopefully the dust will settle down and we can get good chances to view some details. Staying tuned!

[John]

Same experience here last night.

Jupiter was good, Saturn excellent, Mars - well a lovely crisp and large disk but only the vaguest suggestions of pale and darker areas with my Tak FC100 at 180x and 225x

I looked out an old sketch I did of Mars way back in 1984 which was another decent opposition and I got some nice detail with my old Tasco 60mm refractor back then at 133x.

I've got the best equipment that I've ever owned, Mars is approach one of it's best oppositions for many years, my observing skills, such as they are, are probably as good as they have been and there is a massive dust storm on the red planet

As Ken Fulton says in "Tle Lighthearted Astronomer" - The Universe is a fickle mistress !

[jock1958]

Observed Mars about 3 weeks ago at x180 and couldn’t pick out any disernable detail,  just a shimmering orange disk.

With opposition approaching fast how long do these storms go on for?? ?

[chiltonstar]

1 hour ago, John said:

I've got the best equipment that I've ever owned, Mars is approach one of it's best oppositions for many years, my observing skills, such as they are, are probably as good as they have been and there is a massive dust storm on the red planet

As Ken Fulton says in "Tle Lighthearted Astronomer" - The Universe is a fickle mistress !

I blame all the equipment buying going on at the moment.

Chris

[Ouroboros]

Mars is male ain't he? Just saying like. 

Ironic though isn't it! We usually spend all our time cloud dodging this end and now it's clear, and Mars is at its best, we're waiting for clouds to clear at the other end. 

[2Karl]

On 14/07/2018 at 13:15, Ouroboros said:

Mars is male ain't he? Just saying like.

Men can be Jezebels too you know!

 

[Ouroboros]

10 hours ago, 2Karl said:

Men can be Jezebels too you know!

 

I'd best not comment. It would stray too far into gender politics for this site. ?

[chiltonstar]

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

I'd best not comment. It would stray too far into gender politics for this site. ?

Indeed, whatever "gender politics" are!

Last night, I thought Mars was showing a little more detail though at midnight, with the dark features bottom left of this SkySafari simulation (Mak view, horizontally flipped, N up) just about visible - roll on better times!

Chris