Will I be able to see Mars

[delilahtwinkle]

with my little 130p Skywatcher. Stellarium tells me that Jupiter, Mars and Venus will be in view tonight, well in the morning about 5.00am. If my scope has the capability to see Mars which eyepiece should I use?? I only have the choice of two 10mm or the 25mm, I also have a 2X Barlow. If I am right I would try the 10mm and 2x Barlow. Dt

[acey]

If Mars is in the sky then you'll see it with the naked eye. Aim your scope at it and work up through the magnifications until you find the best.

[kniclander]

mars is interesting because it changes size quite dramatically depending on how far it is from earth (I suppose that sounds a bit obvious:icon_scratch: but the relative distance between mars and earth varies considerably). I guess at the moment its very very very small even at high mag but in a year or two it may be ............. very small (ie quite big compared to now). mars is quite hard to observe because it is small but can be very rewarding as there is quite a bit of variety on it if you are patient.

[Doc]

I'm afraid with 5" of aperture you are not going to see loads of detail.

I remember years ago when it was at it's closest I managed to see it's ice caps with my 4" TAL.

But at the moment it's a long way away and you might not see them.

[acey]

I saw surface features with an 80mm short-tube refractor during the last close opposition but it sounds like a wee red dot is all we can hope for at present. Still fun to see, though.

[The Warthog]

Mars can be a little difficult at the best of times, especially with smaller scopes such as yours and mine.I did a sketch of Mars a few yeaers ago through my 4.5" Meade, and although I didn't think much of it, a few people complimented me on getting that much detail. It took a long time to do, and I marked in anything that I saw twice as the surface of Mars boiled in the FOV. That was at about 150x.

You can certainly see Mars, and when it gets close you should be able to see the polar cap, and on a good night to be able to tease out some detail. Right now, it's just too far away to see detail.

[delilahtwinkle]

Thanks for the help folks. I am going to have a go at seeing her tonight, I have quite dark skies where I am, I an hoping that will make a difference. Fingers crossed. Dt

[MrEd]

Sorry for the late reply

But as a rule of thumb visual features are

worth viewing when Mars is at least 10" in size.

This will work for scope 80mm and higher.

Its nowhere near that at the moment and to low in

the sky to observe cleanly.

However later this year that will all change....

HTH

Ed Sampson

[delilahtwinkle]

Thanks Mr Ed, I noticed what you said about her being low... if it was not for the clouds probably by the time she was high enough the sun would be rising and I take it I then would have no chance of seeing her also I would be on my way into work. We will just have to wait a few months. Pleased to hear that my scope would manage her. Thanks. Dt

[kniclander]

is Mars female? god of war and all that? I think of venus as female and all the other ones as male..............

[The Warthog]

I was wondering about that. I usually refer to planets as 'it.' After all, they're planets.

[Talitha]

Venus was a Goddess and Mars was a God.. maybe that's it?

[Astro_Baby]

Males used to outnumber females in the solar system for naming but trhese days with so many new moons being found around Jupiter and Uranus plus so many new dwarf planets I'd bet the girls outnumber the boys.

All of Jupiters moons as far as I know are female gendered and that collection alone would swing the balance to the girls.

I tend to think of planets as male/female depending on their naming and DSOs as objects with no clear gender so really an 'it'