What a night 🌙

[Neil H]

Hi everyone what a night got set up and was looking at Jupiter , I was waiting for mars to come out from behind a tree , the mount had gone off power pack was dead should not be was fully charged looks like this one's a bin job  , so got the second one out had to then get mount to home position then set up again , I asked the mount goto mars and half way there it stops but only one axis , So I landed up bringing mount and scope in door , the belt has gone lucky I have a spare , fixed the mount and set up again now the MAK has dew on the lens so got heater running had to wait for it to clear , now got back to mars No detail at all just a bright disc 

I  think Mars is going to be one planet I won't ever get right ? Can't work out were I am going wrong , low mag high mag still just a bright disc  I may try again later with the refractor 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Neil H

[wookie1965]

Plenty of time get some great views in yet just keep trying. 

[markse68]

Trouble is the features on Mars are pretty low contrast- needs time at the eyepiece to begin to differentiate them. And time to get periods of steady seeing. Any fogging will ruin what little contrast there is. As will poor seeing conditions. Have you tried filters to help with contrast Neil?

Mark

[Neil H]

Hi Mark what type of filters 

[JeremyS]

Mars is one of the harder planets to see detail on. As @markse68pointed out, the features are low contrast. Seeing can destroy everything. Evening views this week are showing the blander side of Mars (see https://britastro.org/2022/mars-mapper-updated-for-2022 to find out what might be visible) - the ~24 rotation period means the view doesn’t gange much from one night to the next, so do try other times. The easiest dark feature is syrtis major. 

[markse68]

13 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Hi Mark what type of filters 

I tried a Baader contrast booster last night which helped a bit though i have to say i prefer viewing without- it takes more time though. I think the Baader Neodymium can help too as can basic coloured filters- red orange or blue- if you have a set try them out- different colours reveal different features I think

Mark

[Neil H]

Ok Mark I do have colour ones so will try that was hoping to tonight but the fog has come in 

[JeremyS]

Here’s a BAA article about colour filters: https://britastro.org/2017/using-filters-for-visual-planetary-observations

Tbh I’ve not had much success with filters on Mars

Edited December 11, 2022 by JeremyS

[Neil H]

Brilliant read I book marked it thanks for that link

[Stu]

Mars can be quite a challenge can’t it? I had some of my better views this year through the 130mm but even then they weren’t amazing. Seeing was quite patchy so that obviously makes a huge difference. I could see brightening at the North Pole and the main dark marking visible in the simulator Jeremy posted, but not what you would call detailed. Last opposition I posted about one excellent night where I used x360 and got really great views in my 8” f8, so you just need to catch the steady nights I guess. I’ve found filters useful at lower powers, but when conditions are good, they can take away detail at high power.

[JeremyS]

I find that binoviewing brings out much more detail on Mars than a filter ever did.

[Franklin]

I've used a green filter (Baader Solar Continuum) and found that it can really make the polar cap stand out and subdue the glare in general.

[Neil H]

Well that's a lot more things to try Jupiter worked well with my binoviewer , well I won't give in with Mars 

[Mart29]

9 hours ago, Neil H said:

Hi everyone what a night got set up and was looking at Jupiter , I was waiting for mars to come out from behind a tree , the mount had gone off power pack was dead should not be was fully charged looks like this one's a bin job  , so got the second one out had to then get mount to home position then set up again , I asked the mount goto mars and half way there it stops but only one axis , So I landed up bringing mount and scope in door , the belt has gone lucky I have a spare , fixed the mount and set up again now the MAK has dew on the lens so got heater running had to wait for it to clear , now got back to mars No detail at all just a bright disc 

I  think Mars is going to be one planet I won't ever get right ? Can't work out were I am going wrong , low mag high mag still just a bright disc  I may try again later with the refractor 

Hello Neil, I think eyepiece quality is super important on Mars . I think I have being lucky with timing cos I have seen loads of detail . Dark shades and ice caps and got phone photos straight on the eyepiece for the last 7 sessions. 

I used , 10 mm and 11mm with x2 barlow and kept changing between the two. Below was take from the phone with no editing.  

Keep tring you will get it! Spend at least 20mins to get your eye adjusted. 

[Neil H]

Nice photo I would be very happy if I could see that in the eyepiece

[Mart29]

2 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Nice photo I would be very happy if I could see that in the eyepiece

You will! Just don't rush , get the scope outside for 40 mins first and then use a 11 / 10mm eyepiece first .  Get the focus as tight as possible and just sit and take time at the eyepiece.  

 

 

[RobertI]

I found Mars really difficult last night and as mentioned above, it is showing a fairly bland aspect at the moment with not much to see. But when it’s good it’s really good. Binoviewers transform the experience for me (same for all planets and moon) allowing me to concentrate for so much longer - it does takes a while for the eyes to adjust and start seeing the detail. I also think binoviewers reduce the glare somewhat, even in my 4” refractor, which helps. 

[Stu]

Some info here from last opposition. When things are good, it’s amazing to see.

The image is a very good approximation of the eyepiece view I got then. In theory this year should be better as Mars is higher but that hasn’t been the case so far for me unfortunately.

 

 

[Sunshine]

Friday night I was fortunate enough to see a great view of Mars, detail was easy to make out as dark blotching and the “red” of the red planet was a beautiful rusty bronzy ish color with a tiny dot of a polar cap, just like the image above except smaller, of course. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Sunshine

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

In theory this year should be better as Mars is higher but that hasn’t been the case so far for me unfortunately.

Yes same here Stu. I may be wrong, but I think it was about 30% bigger last opposition (22” v 17”) which might make a big difference?

[Stu]

30 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Yes same here Stu. I may be wrong, but I think it was about 30% bigger last opposition (22” v 17”) which might make a big difference?

Yes, that sounds right. A tricky little customer!

[markse68]

Next weekend Valles Marineris should be centre stage- a very interesting feature to tease out of the pinkness 

Mark

[Neil H]

Well I hope we all have clear skies 

[bosun21]

To me Mars can be very finicky to draw out any significant details. Last week during an observing session I was viewing Jupiter and due to the seeing being reasonable I was seeing a lot of surface details. I then slewed to Mars expecting more of the same, but it was a disappointment. The most I could discern was surface shading. There’s so many variables, but when they all come together you are in for a treat.

 

[wookie1965]

8 hours ago, bosun21 said:

To me Mars can be very finicky to draw out any significant details. Last week during an observing session I was viewing Jupiter and due to the seeing being reasonable I was seeing a lot of surface details. I then slewed to Mars expecting more of the same, but it was a disappointment. The most I could discern was surface shading. There’s so many variables, but when they all come together you are in for a treat.

 

Same here I was on Jupiter trying different combinations could clearly see 4 bands of colour even a hint of swirling when I turned to Mars it was just a orange globe I could not get any detail no matter what combination I used.