Observing Mars

[igorigs]

So last night I was observing Mars and I could see it very clearly I mean it's shape and it was quite big for my Evostar 90. But the thing is it was just way to bright. Couldn't see literally any details as it was shinning as it was a full Moon not a planet... 

Can someone explain why is that? 

[Peter Drew]

Mars is surprisingly bright and small compared to Jupiter and Saturn.  The brightness tends to swamp the detail on Mars.  You need high magnification or filters to offset this.  At least 200x on your 90mm if the seeing will stand it.  

[Nik271]

Well, it is a small object which is very bright so it has large surface brightness'. I experience the same effect with Venus and bright stars, notably Siruis, but for these I don't care too much because we don't look for surface features. 

There are several way to overcome the blinding brightness of Mars:

1. Use even higher magnification! Something like 150-200 should be doable in your scope if the seeing is OK.

2.Filters: a red filter will dim Mars considerably and allow more of the surface features to be distinguished.

3. Check your star diagonal. The cheap one scatter a lot of light and make observing bright objects more difficult.

4. Or use sunglasses

I hope this helps.

 

Nikolay

[igorigs]

Not sure if it can handle that kind of magnification 😅

[igorigs]

@Nik271 Will have to try the sunglasses option, really interested how will that work, look like.

[Nik271]

I just thought of another solution: observe Mars when the sky is getting brighter: just before sunrise or after sunset. These days Mars is highest above horizon around 5am in the morning and here in the UK sun rises 45 mins later so 5am is perfect for me. If you have tracking your mount may follow Mars even during the day.

I have seen Venus during the day and then it did not seem bight at all.

[John]

7 hours ago, Nik271 said:

I just thought of another solution: observe Mars when the sky is getting brighter: just before sunrise or after sunset. These days Mars is highest above horizon around 5am in the morning and here in the UK sun rises 45 mins later so 5am is perfect for me. If you have tracking your mount may follow Mars even during the day.

I have seen Venus during the day and then it did not seem bight at all.

That is the best time to view the planets - where there is still some light left in the sky