Mars at last

[globular]

I finally got the green light from the clear outside app for some observing after nearly a month of frustration - set the alarm for 2am and had a great session from 3 until 5.

There were the odd clouds but the jet stream was absent and the views of Mars were remarkably stable. 

At first it seemed there were few surface features presenting themselves - other than a dark band through the middle and a much reduced in size south polar cap.
But I stuck with it and with the help of different filters to highlight dark and bright areas I gradually build up a good idea of what was presenting itself.

I tried a colour sketch this time.. yellow for the bright areas, brown for the dark and orange for the rest. 
A rather childish looking end result... I need to develop some blending skills in particular I think... but not a bad rendition of what I saw.

[markse68]

Nice sketch Glob, what scope are you using? You got a lot of fine detail there 

Mark

[globular]

21 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Nice sketch Glob, what scope are you using? You got a lot of fine detail there 

Thanks Mark.
In reality the edges were not as sharp as my sketch - that's what I meant about needed to blend. But there was indeed a lot of detail on display and it seemed to take magnification pretty well too. I even had a few minutes with 500x... but it was better at 300x.  I have an 8" Edge SCT. I think it was the conditions more than the scope that made the difference. (Although I'm beginning to think (or do I mean hope) that I have one of the rare rather good ones )

Edited October 14, 2020 by globular

[Sunshine]

Nice sketch! it may need to be de-rotated, though. 🤣🤣

I need to learn how to sketch, i haven't progressed past stick figures yet, lol.

[globular]

5 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

it may need to be de-rotated, though. 🤣🤣

haha true... I left it as the view I got in the eyepiece... I think we all know which way up it should be 😉