Cracking Mars - 22nd September 2020

[Stu]

I’m sure there will be plenty of reports like this, but here are some thoughts on observing tonight.

I had two scopes setup tonight, having observed Jupiter and Saturn earlier in the evening. Looking at the Jetstream forecast and the general stillness in the cloud elsewhere on the satellite images, plus the high haze it seemed that tonight would be an excellent night for planetary observing.

The two scopes were the Vixen FL102S on GP mount with a 3 to 6mm Nag Zoom, and the OO 8” f8 on my EQ Platform with Leica Zoom and AP Barcon. That gave me up to x300 in the Vixen and up to x360 in the Dob. I also had a Neodymium filter to add in if needed.

Alarm set for 2.45am, around the time of transit but also with an eye on spotting Valles Marineris which is a feature I’ve long wanted to observe.

First impressions from earlier were good, but when I started observing at about 3am I wasn’t seeing much detail, that was at higher powers in the f8 with the Neodymium filter fitted. Fairly soon though, I got my eye in and the detail started to come through. I then removed the filter and it got better! I must say the detail was way better than anything I’ve experienced when observing Mars before, quite amazing.

I’ve marked up the main features I could see on this snap from SkySafari. Most pleasingly I could see two ‘fingers’ coming off the main dark mass in a 4 and 5 O’clock direction. The bottom one of these is Valles Marineris according to SkySafari and it looked very clear and distinct. There was also a semi circular lighter feature towards the 10 O’clock direction, again very obvious and kept catching my eye. The Southern ice cap was as clear as ever, and there was the much larger, less bright frosting at the northern pole. Not sure if this is an ice cap as such or more like my frosting description. Any comments welcomed.

The seeing in general was pretty good as expected, but still the detail came and went, at times it looked photographic and at others very indistinct.

When I bought this Dob, with 1/10th wave optics Mars was one of my intended targets, and having managed to rebuild it from its little accident earlier in the year it really has delivered tonight. On the EQ platform and me perched on my Catsperch chair it was very relaxing not having to nudge the scope at all.

You may be asking ‘what of the Vixen?’ Well, it gave good sharp views, but as the theory says, the resolution just wasn’t there to my eye compared with the dob. With some imagination I could see where Valles Marineris was, but in the Dob it was just ‘there’, obvious. So, I spent most of my time getting the best out of the Dob, seemed to make sense.

Finally a comment on the Neodymium. Tonight’s experience matches a similar one last night. At mid powers the filter does seem to help contrast, cut out glare and reduce the visibility of diffraction spikes, but I found that at high powers it actually did not allow all the detail to come through, perhaps just reducing brightness too much at smaller exit pupils, I don’t know. Anyway, the unfiltered views were better when up over x300 in the Dob, so I will stop using it in these situations.

An excellent hour or so of observing, I need to have a look at a Mars map to establish the other features seen, but overall a great session with Mars delivering lovely views.

[cotterless45]

Lovely report and indeed cracking views. I kept picking up a small bright area on the limb, but it was very transient . Hoping for a great opposition ,

Nick.

[Geoff Barnes]

Good stuff Stu, I wondered what you were doing up at such an unearrhly hour! 😀

Handy to hear your thoughts on the Neodymium filter. I keep mine permanently on the Baader zoom which takes me up to 275x max, but over 300x I don't use a filter, so won't bother trying it now.

Patiently waiting for Mars to clear our trees in a few weeks.

[Alan White]

Nice to read this report Stu.

I too was out for a while but the level of dampness and higher humidity took its toll.
Dewing season is upon us, I should have taken precautions, know for next time of course.

Sadly for me Mars etc all are tree heights in sociable hours on a work night,
I was so looking forward to lots of Mars, but not when I needed to sleep.

I need a clear weekend very soon to feed this Planet observing need.

 

[Peter Drew]

Interesting report Stu.  I have a Vixen 102FL and a self built 8" with F8 1/20 wave (claimed) OOUK optics and have had a similar experience.  For me, the smaller telescope doesn't quite do Mars justice although the SW150ED is another matter!  I'm still waiting for a night of more stable seeing, so far there has always been a little something to spoil the potential view.  I have a restricted window of opportunity to observe for health reasons and usually have to give up just as things are starting to settle down with the telescopes and the seeing.  Looking forward to Mars being higher earlier.     😀 

[markse68]

Good isn’t it Stu

Ive found too that with the great seeing we’ve had last couple of nights no filter is best. And how the detail just seems to gel magically from an otherwise low contrast and unspectacular view with a patient eye. In fact i’ve tried to show others how amazing it is and they don’t seem to be able to see it 🤷‍♂️ Sometimes it drifts off and a tiny tweak of the focus pops it back- as Mike helpfully mentioned in another thread the rapid rise of the planet requires almost constant focus tweaking as the atmosphere thins.

I too noticed an indistinct but definitely there, brightening at 10 o’clock on the disk- perhaps a cloud?

I really want to be able to zoom right in on that Valles Marineris- such an intriguing feature but alas 8.75” won’t do it 😉

My theory is the north pole ice cap is growing- it’s winter down there- and the ferocious cold is gathering clouds of condensing gasses giving that blueish brightening down there.

So glad it wasn’t opposition last year as I’d have not been ready for it- Mars is better than I ever imagined and maybe it’s the covid clarity still helping us but the views are really very good indeed- spectacular even!

Mark

Edited September 22, 2020 by markse68

[davidc135]

I too had a wonderful night of good to excellent seeing from my back garden on the mid Wales borders. I'd taken my 8'' Meade sct and B&L4000 mounted on a Skytee out early to tweak the collimation and to have a look at the two big planets. Both scopes showed Polaris as an Airy disc so I thought the seeing might be special.

Awoke and went out at 4.00am armed with a 7.5mm Plossl and pale orange filter. Both scopes have quite good optics, the B&L having a refigured corrector giving maybe x170 mag whereas the Meade was working at x270. Could have been a little too high but the planet's outline was sharp and still in the steady air.

Starting with the filter I noticed first how crisp the planet was but with little detail apart from the conspicuous SPC which was obvious even in the 4'', then a darker patch which extended over much of the southern hemisphere to the equator. Also a smaller darker strip across the high northern latitudes topped by a paler north polar strip.

Bit by bit I could see some more detail especially some fingers extending from the central region of the disc and pointing towards the limb. Some other indentations and paler patches but I can see the value of making a sketch, even if rough. It's very easy to forget the positions.

I too found that the orange filter didn't improve anything so after a while it was taken off. Similarly, although the view through the B&L was crisp the 4'' of aperture was too small to show very much. 

I'm fairly new to Mars watching but last night was the best so far. Now I ought to learn some topography.   David

[Stu]

6 hours ago, markse68 said:

Good isn’t it Stu

Ive found too that with the great seeing we’ve had last couple of nights no filter is best. And how the detail just seems to gel magically from an otherwise low contrast and unspectacular view with a patient eye. In fact i’ve tried to show others how amazing it is and they don’t seem to be able to see it 🤷‍♂️ Sometimes it drifts off and a tiny tweak of the focus pops it back- as Mike helpfully mentioned in another thread the rapid rise of the planet requires almost constant focus tweaking as the atmosphere thins.

I too noticed an indistinct but definitely there, brightening at 10 o’clock on the disk- perhaps a cloud?

I really want to be able to zoom right in on that Valles Marineris- such an intriguing feature but alas 8.75” won’t do it 😉

My theory is the north pole ice cap is growing- it’s winter down there- and the ferocious cold is gathering clouds of condensing gasses giving that blueish brightening down there.

So glad it wasn’t opposition last year as I’d have not been ready for it- Mars is better than I ever imagined and maybe it’s the covid clarity still helping us but the views are really very good indeed- spectacular even!

Mark

Thanks Mark. Yes, it’s amazing how the detail crystallises after a while, when on first sight it seems very low contrast and hard to see. Even more so than Jupiter or Saturn, Mars rewards spending time at the eyepiece I reckon.

I found myself frequently tweaking the focus over the time I was observing. Sometimes it was unnecessary as it was only that the seeing was poor, but I’m sure regular tweaks help. I really do need to get the Feathertouch fitted to this scope, it is single speed at the moment and although a decent focuser, a good dual speed will really help nail the focus more accurately. I was really chuffed to get Valles Marineris. I read about viewing it in a review (I think of an OMC200) quite a few years ago and have always wanted to see it. More detail would be wonderful! On a night of even better seeing I guess the Mag could be pushed up even higher?

I think you are likely right about the clouds of gas on the Northern polar region, it doesn’t look like ice to me, different colour and much more diffuse.

[Stu]

5 hours ago, davidc135 said:

Bit by bit I could see some more detail especially somewhere as ßd fingers extending from the central region of the disc and pointing towards the limb.

Nice report David, sounds like you had similar views in your 8”. I suspect one of  those two fingers was Valles Marineris, nice!……

[Stu]

With kind permission from @Ibbo! I’ve detuned his excellent Mars image taken at about the same time I was observing. I think this is now a fairly close representation of what I saw through the 8” f8, except that the frosting at the North polar cap was much more noticeable in the scope.

Thanks Steve 👍👍

[globular]

12 minutes ago, Stu said:

With kind permission from @Ibbo! I’ve detuned his excellent Mars image taken at about the same time I was observing. I think this is now a fairly close representation of what I saw through the 8” f8, except that the frosting at the North polar cap was much more noticeable in the scope.

Thanks Steve 👍👍

Very close to what I saw too - just lacking the frosting to the north as you described it; also a bright / white edge to eastern side (left side in the above picture); and a thin light strip running horizontally through the middle splitting the dark patch into two.
I was amazed how stable the view was.  No need to concentrate and build up the details from glimpses; it was all just there. And for so long too. I was gobsmacked.
(I was using 8" F10.5 Edge HD at 300x + ND0.9)

[niallk]

Nice report @Stu!  I agree with the 'frosting' as you nicely put it: I saw that too 2 nights ago at 330x in my 15".  The globe was about a quarter turn ahead of the detuned photo - it's representative of the view I had too.

Interesting to hear your comments about the neodymium filter.  Had been reading several reports and beginning to wonder about trying one!

[Stu]

14 hours ago, globular said:

Very close to what I saw too - just lacking the frosting to the north as you described it; also a bright / white edge to eastern side (left side in the above picture); and a thin light strip running horizontally through the middle splitting the dark patch into two.
I was amazed how stable the view was.  No need to concentrate and build up the details from glimpses; it was all just there. And for so long too. I was gobsmacked.
(I was using 8" F10.5 Edge HD at 300x + ND0.9)

Excellent! Sounds like your seeing was better than mine as I had to work a bit harder to see all the detail, but it was there with patience 👍

[Stu]

13 hours ago, niallk said:

Nice report @Stu!  I agree with the 'frosting' as you nicely put it: I saw that too 2 nights ago at 330x in my 15".  The globe was about a quarter turn ahead of the detuned photo - it's representative of the view I had too.

Interesting to hear your comments about the neodymium filter.  Had been reading several reports and beginning to wonder about trying one!

Reading Darryl’s excellent post today, I see that he refers to the Northern Polar Hood/Haze which seems to be along similar lines. I guess this is perhaps frozen CO2 as it is winter in the North currently?

 

[niallk]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Reading Darryl’s excellent post today, I see that he refers to the Northern Polar Hood/Haze which seems to be along similar lines. I guess this is perhaps frozen CO2 as it is winter in the North currently?

 

You know, I saw that effect and worried for a minute that there was fringing or something up with my optics!! 😂

Those are fantastic pics - with the labels too.  Can't wait for another good night to get out and observe again!

[chiltonstar]

Looking last night at 23:00, I could see a definite haze in the N Hemisphere, plus two brighter patches showing on the bright side (may just be albedo features). I took a few images, eg attached which hint at the haze.

Chris