A write-up of my first Mars-session with the Skywatcher Evostar 72ED DS-Pro

[Victor Boesen]

Last week I woke up early to observe Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with my small grab-and-go refractor on my manfrotto tripod. I was really excited to see how it would perform on Mars, which I got to observe for the first time with this scope. I have written a post on my website discussing the general planetary abilities of the small Skywatcher frac.

https://myastronomyjourney.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/skywatcher-evostar-72ed-ds-pro-observing-jupiter-saturn-and-mars/

I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to share your own experiences with this scope;)

Victor

[mikeDnight]

Excellent report Victor, and very encouraging to everyone with a small scope showing that they can often show much more than expected. 

[Victor Boesen]

18 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Excellent report Victor, and very encouraging to everyone with a small scope showing that they can often show much more than expected. 

Thank you Mike! And definitely true! I was very sceptical about the small scope's performance when I already owned the 10 inch dob, but I've been very surprised about the planetary and deep sky performance under dark skies. This scope will be a true keeper! Until I can't resist pulling the trigger on a Tak FC-76DCU Although that'l be some years.

[paulastro]

A very impressive report Victor.  The 72ED has really good optics and you have done a great job in showing how well it can perform, even on less easy subjects like Mars.  Last November I used mine to observe the transit of Mercury across the sun and it was ideal as the wind was ferocious and it would have been difficult to hold down a larger scope.  Though comparatively  a small scope, it does many things very well.   After all, it's not far off from a three inch refractor which at one time was a desired instrument for many amateurs.

[chiltonstar]

A very nice, and honest report. I am often surprised by how well my 80ED will perform on Mars as well. Small fracs are great!

Chris

[Victor Boesen]

25 minutes ago, paulastro said:

A very impressive report Victor.  The 72ED has really good optics and you have done a great job in showing how well it can perform, even on less easy subjects like Mars.  Last November I used mine to observe the transit of Mercury across the sun and it was ideal as the wind was ferocious and it would have been difficult to hold down a larger scope.  Though comparatively  a small scope, it does many things very well.   After all, it's not far off from a three inch refractor which at one time was a desired instrument for many amateurs.

Thanks a lot! I'm excited to see Mars in a couple of months when it grows in size. After all the last opposition wasn't really as big of an event as we had hoped for because of the sandstorm. This year it's also going to be a lot higher on the horizon.

[Victor Boesen]

17 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

A very nice, and honest report. I am often surprised by how well my 80ED will perform on Mars as well. Small fracs are great!

Chris

Thanks Chris!

I am surprised how much I enjoy my small frac despite having a 10 inch dob as well. There's just something about these small scopes and the view they give!

Edited June 29, 2020 by Victor Boesen

[RobertI]

Nice report and video. Amazing what 72mm can do!

[Victor Boesen]

8 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Nice report and video. Amazing what 72mm can do!

Thanks Rob! It certainly is! I love this little thing;)

[Pete Presland]

An excellent report, good to hear your observing experiences. Looking forward Mars growing in size in the coming months!

[Victor Boesen]

44 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

An excellent report, good to hear your observing experiences. Looking forward Mars growing in size in the coming months!

Thank you very much Pete! I look very much forward to it as well. Let's cross our fingers there won't be another sandstorm🤞

[Pete Presland]

10 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

Thank you very much Pete! I look very much forward to it as well. Let's cross our fingers there won't be another sandstorm🤞

That would be very annoying, especially considering how high Mars will be this time around.