Heads up - Mars 7th Nov, 17:30ut

[dweller25]

Syrtis Major will be central 🙂

[johnturley]

1 hour ago, dweller25 said:

Syrtis Major will be central 🙂

Looking outside at the moment, there is a good chance that it could be clear for me.

John 

[Peter Drew]

Been looking at this since 5pm.  Unexpectedly clear as the forecast showed cloud!, excellent transparency but still some shimmer,  300x gives the best view so far on either the 150 SWED or the 16" SCT.  Good solar views earlier this morning.    🙂

[John]

Yes, I was observing Mars with the 12 inch dob until a layer of cloud crept in.

Through the dob optics the darker features, including the Syrtis Major, seemed to form a "Y" shape. Like a huge dusky pair of "Y" fronts were draped across the disk

 

[dweller25]

Hello @Peter Drew, I had identical viewing conditions from 16:45 to 17:00, Although I had to drop magnification from x240 to x192 for best results 👍 quite a reasonable view.

@John, yes thats how I saw it but there was a slight right angle on the preceding side of Syrtis Major. Hellas was quite easy too along with mist on the preceding limb.

I looked for 15 minutes before I saw the SPC - it’s hard now in the 4” - and even then I only glimpsed it for a second or two.

@johnturley - hope you took a photo ?

Will post a drawing tomorrow.....

[Peter Drew]

I'm an experienced planet "looker", not observer, I'm vaguely familiar with Syrtis Major, Solus Lacus and Hellas and was reasonably certain that two of them were on show this evening but I couldn't have sketched them with any confidence.  I was able to see the SPC in the SCT but not convincingly in the ED.  My main problem is that I have to pack up just as things are just settling nicely and I'm unable to return for an extended later session this time of year due to my chronic chest condition.       ☹️

[dweller25]

I went out early as the forecast said it was going to cloud over at 18:00, just looked out now at 21:30 and it’s still clear 😱

[John]

18 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

I went out early as the forecast said it was going to cloud over at 18:00, just looked out now at 21:30 and it’s still clear 😱

Here it did cloud over at around 18:00 but it has now cleared again. The seeing is a bit iffy though. I now have the ED120 refractor out instead of the big dob. Sticking to low to medium power on the Auriga open clusters at the moment.

Cold night so lots of central heating plumes around - including ours which Mars seems to be "bathing in" currently

 

[johnturley]

I also observed Mars at around 17.30 last night (7 December), despite rather unsteady conditions, Syrtis Major was standing out quite clearly, but the South Polar Cap was difficult. Interestingly Mars currently appears around the same size as at the most unfavourable aphelic oppositions. 

Observed again later at around 21.30, when the Sinus Sabaeus should have been on view, but atmospheric conditions had deteriorated from earlier on, and it was difficult to make out. 

John