MARS! MASSIVE!

[Special K]

I’ve never seen the red planet so huge!  We’re near enough to opposition now so I suppose this is as large as it gets, and I was blown away!  Difficult seeing and the low altitude prevented positive determination of those polar caps but seeng the planet at this scale was a nice contrast to when we are much further away.  Other than with Venus, I don’t think we see such a difference in size visually as we glide through our orbs.  The dust storm prevails, but thought I could see some darker hues in the center.

I was out celebrating the resumption of astronomical night in my area. It really did look much darker around 1pm while the moon was setting off the other end of the house. I didn’t seem to be affected by it. 

So up to Mirach for a nice look at NGC404 Mirach’s Ghost. Easy to find as it forms a triangle with Mirach and a dimmer companion. Working up the hop, I then landed on M32, compact and decidedly fuzzy. Then boom!!! There’s the Andromeda Core!  It’s a good night for this one. The elliptical shape is easy enough to make out and I toyed with trying to find the edges against black space behind. Just a skip higher and the diffuse patch occupied by companion M110 is visible....just.  All this at 100x.

I then wandered higher to Ruchbach β Cas. On the EQ mount, I just panned east and was entertained by one beautiful star field after another. This is such a rich area to trawl with no real intention in mind.  A good 5 or 10 degrees out, I discovered another rich field of roughly equal magnitude stars.  Not recognised at first, but then I saw the familiar ‘arm’ or chain of stars that join up with the double cluster. Following them down was like seeing the whole neighborhood explode into two massive fireworks!  I was using the Nag31 at this point but the sky was still dark enough for great contrast and is excellent for trawling. I now have a new star hop to Stock 2!

If you like the Cheshire Cat in Auriga, have a look for the little cat just below the double cluster!  The grin is made up in part by Σ270 & 268.  Clear skies!

[chiltonstar]

The size is amazing, isn't it. No more than a huge, orange, frizzy ball here last night but an incredible sight nevertheless.

Chris

[MarsG76]

The size of Mars is great.. and I too saw the shading with a polar cap lightening.. but I'm hoping that there will be more visible in the next week as the dust storm, allegedly, is subsiding.

 

[Stu]

I had a look at it earlier on last night and it was huge. So bright with the naked eye too. Very wobbly though, atmospheric CA and no sign of the polar caps. I did think I saw some faint darker marking centrally though.

[Mr Spock]

Must. Get. Scope. Out...

[Arion]

It's not just in opposition, but it also happens near the aphelion of Earth and the perihelion of Mars. On the 27th it's going to be 94% of the apparent diameter that it can possibly get.

2020 will be another good one, though not as big as now, and after that the oppositions will be increasingly smaller looking. It seems to be about a 16 year cycle. So don't expect a view like this again until 2034 or so.

I am so glad that I didn't wait another month or more to finally get a telescope. This week seems like an amazing one for watching planets and the moon.

[Stub Mandrel]

Fairly steady here, some hint of a northern polar cap and some more distinct dark areas on the disk, nothing like the Aussies are claiming though!

[Davey-T]

So bright last night it was the only thing I could see shining through the clouds 

Dave

[cotterless45]

Itś massive ! Shame it wobbled over the town. Just slight signs of dark markings . Well worth checking out ,Nick.

[Stub Mandrel]

I've processed my images. Surprisingly the south polar cap shows better than the north, but in the live video I only spotted the northern one!

 

[Special K]

10 hours ago, Arion said:

It's not just in opposition, but it also happens near the aphelion of Earth and the perihelion of Mars. On the 27th it's going to be 94% of the apparent diameter that it can possibly get.

2020 will be another good one, though not as big as now, and after that the oppositions will be increasingly smaller looking. It seems to be about a 16 year cycle. So don't expect a view like this again until 2034 or so.

I am so glad that I didn't wait another month or more to finally get a telescope. This week seems like an amazing one for watching planets and the moon.

Thanks for that interesting information.  It’s good to know the ‘why’ things look the way they do visually. However I don’t want to think how old I’ll be next time around, or what condition my eyes will be in!!!  But I do look forward to seeing such a big change in appearance again.