Challenging Mars

[RobertI]

I've been observing for many years but last night was my first attempt to capture the red planet on paper. A nice night too as Mars was very close the the 90% waning moon.The seeing was unfortunately poor, even at the end of the session, but there were brief moments of relative calm which helped tease out some detail, but not the best night. The result over a period of 90 minutes is shown below. Rather underwhelming I know, but a start, and I can only get better I hope!

 

C8, x200, Seeing: Poor, altitude: 37 degrees max

 

Observing notes

The main dark feature is Mare Sirenum, it initially started as a dark 'seagull' shape, but it eventually became apparent that the whole lower hemisphere was dark with the seagull shape even darker. Apparently Olympus Mons was also visible but I could not see it. I think I timed it to see one of the most featureless faces of the planet! The polar ice cap is ringed rather than doing a full blow shading with a white patch. Would it be cheating to pre-prepare a coloured template with the ice cap already shown in white and then shade in the dark areas and rub out the light areas during observing? A screen shot from Sky Guide as a comparison (mirrored). For info I only consulted maps/apps only after the session so I was not influenced. Although I have a number of apps and Maps of Mars I found there was no single map that did the job, it was a case of looking at a number of them. Do other people have this problem? What do people use?

 

 

Equipment

From previous experience I felt the C8 was the best scope for the job so I put it on my simple non-goto driven CG5 equatorial mount at a height to allow me to sit - I have to say being seated and having the scope tracking made life so much easier and I don't think I could have observed for 90 minutes (on and off) with my usual setup of standing using a non-driven altaz mount!

I also briefly tried the Tal100RS and the 150PL as a comparison. The C8 clearly revealed the most detail of the three but the colour through the TAL was a glorious deep red and still showed some detail - on a night of good seeing I think it could reveal a lot. After observing through the C8 for 90 minutes, Mars seemed white and the red colour was barely apparent!

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by RobertI

[BRADLEY 1953]

Hi  Robertl,  a really good representation of what was on view. Considering the relatively favourable declination of Mars at present, the seeing lately, at least in these parts, has been particularly disappointing!  

[Fraunhoffer]

Nice sketch. I was thinking of some pre-prepared blanks aswell. 😁. 

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Fraunhoffer said:

Nice sketch. I was thinking of some pre-prepared blanks aswell. 😁. 

Thanks. 

If you still need templates, you're welcome to use mine. They show the following phases - 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% and 100%. I reduce them to about 50cms on to a printed sheet of A4 (50cms circle size seems to be the commonly recommended size).

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by RobertI

[mikeDnight]

A lovely sketch Robert. I hope you continue sketching as it makes a great record of your observations that you can look back on for years to come. 

[RobertI]

23 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

A lovely sketch Robert. I hope you continue sketching as it makes a great record of your observations that you can look back on for years to come. 

Thanks Mike. I’m really motivated to continue this, inspired in no small part by your excellent drawings and maps. 

[maw lod qan]

I'm always amazed seeing everyone's sketches!

[dweller25]

Great sketch Rob,

Have you tried a neutral density filter with your C8 to try and dim the view down a little ?

It may help with the colour.

I had the same issue when I used a 10” Dob

[RobertI]

14 hours ago, dweller25 said:

Great sketch Rob,

Have you tried a neutral density filter with your C8 to try and dim the view down a little ?

It may help with the colour.

I had the same issue when I used a 10” Dob

Thanks for the idea, I do have a ND filter so I will give it a go. 👍 You’ve reminded me that I have a load of colour filters too which I can try too.