Magical Mars ! 22/9/20

[cotterless45]

You wake up in the night. Groggily and half asleep , walk out into the garden. That cloud filled forecast has broken into crystal dark sky . High in the south sits a very bright Mars ." I wonder what it looks like that high ?" 

The following nights bring cloud then clear skies but with wobbly seeing . Even Jupiter hardly shows it's bands. 

Setting up at 11 , this time I'm waiting and watching out for that early morning height of Mars.
First views and wow ! Focus on the ice cap and wait until the surface comes to view. Just don't keep fiddling with it . Both eyes open with a hand over the non observing eye, gets the eyepatch out .

Sits and draws, funny what detail you can see. The surface shows not only darker bits.  But delicate channels where one arm flows off. 

It's still wow at x240 with a 10mm Vixen plossl in x2 Barlow.I settle at x240 with an old school heavyweight ,5mm Vixen LVW and a single polarising filter . Just no breeze , hardly any dew and a lovely Mars.

2.15, dew is getting heavy , sleep calls . Thank you red planet for an unforgettable night,
Stay safe and clear skies ,
Old Nick.

[markse68]

Hi Nick, lovely report and sketches

49 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

Focus on the ice cap and wait until the surface comes to view. Just don't keep fiddling with it

yep! it’s funny isn’t it how the detail just seems to pop into view- not sure if it’s related to the seeing or just how our brains work- integrating the image detail over time. I’ve enthusiastically shown others the amazing view of mars but usually they shrug their shoulders unable to see the detail- it definitely needs time and patience to see!

54 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

I settle at x240 with an old school heavyweight ,5mm Vixen LVW and a single polarising filter

does a single polariser help? Do you have to rotate it to best position? 

Mark

[cotterless45]

Thanks Mark !

I found that with the aperture closed down to 120mm that an old school "Moon" filter took too much light . There was barely any difference turning the single polarising filter . I don't know what others have found . I did hear of colour filters being used .

I did find that using no filter just gave you glare and that it's rare to nip inside for drink and toast and it not affecting the views  !

Hope everyone enjoys Mars and looking forward to the opposition on the 13th of October ,

Nick.

[Saganite]

1 hour ago, cotterless45 said:

Thanks Mark !

I found that with the aperture closed down to 120mm that an old school "Moon" filter took too much light . There was barely any difference turning the single polarising filter . I don't know what others have found . I did hear of colour filters being used .

I did find that using no filter just gave you glare and that it's rare to nip inside for drink and toast and it not affecting the views  !

Hope everyone enjoys Mars and looking forward to the opposition on the 13th of October ,

Nick.

 Cheers Nick.

You are right about fiddling with the focuser. I did eventually focus on the ice cap and sat back to enjoy !

Rotate your sketches  to put the polar cap at the top and that is what I could see.

A fantastic night of planetary observing, even nabbed Uranus  just for a break.  I need now to look at images of Mars to decipher the ' land masses ' that I could see.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Saganite

[wookie1965]

Well looking out at 10pm the seeing was horrible got my bins out to check before setting up, glad I did looking at Mars through the binoculars it looked like I was looking through a rain soaked window so I never bothered getting the kit out. 

That is twice you have saw details on Mars in a few days love the drawing much the same as I saw last week thanks for posting Nick.