Mars looking excellent tonight - 31st Jan 2023

[Stu]

I’ve just been observing Mars and it is looking excellent. It is presenting a more interesting face to us with Syrtis Major visible as well as Hellas Planitia very clear as a bright oval area in the South. Some frosting in the North and perhaps some other subtle features. Go have a look if you have clear skies 👍

Moon also looking amazing!

[Stu]

[Captain Scarlet]

Through the 130?

[Stu]

Just now, Captain Scarlet said:

Through the 130?

Actually no, through the FC100. It never ceases to amaze me how good that scope is for a four inch. Was using MaxBright II binoviewers and 10mm BCOs with x1.7 GPC and AP Barcon element to push the power up around x250.

[IB20]

It looked great at 136x through the 76DCQ! I’m going back out soon to up the mag and spend some more time on the moon. 

[Zermelo]

There was some lovely detail on the moon earlier, up as far as x375 in a 6".

Surprising, as the jet stream is very active.

[mikeDnight]

Thanks for the heads up Stu. I was sulking earlier as its been blanket cloud here for ages, but a short time ago a big sucker hole appeared. The FC was already set up in anticipation so it was razor sharp straight away. The moon of course was glorious with the central rille in the alpine valley being quite obvious as a bright line. Domes around Copernicus were next on the list, and after a quick scan along the beautiful terminator I rushed to Mars before my luck ran out. Strong winds and fast moving cloud had me on edge, but the seeing was pretty good. Tonight it was the turn of my Vixen HR eyepieces to play out, so no binoviewer. The Moon and Mars were nice and sharp in the 3.4mm giving me 235X, but martian detail seemed a bit washy, probably because of the fast moving atmosphere I was looking through. Despite this I did manage to tease out some nice detail as I sketched what I saw.  The FC100, despite its relatively small aperture, is an awesome scope and always amazes me. I'm not sure why it does so, by now you'd think I'd be used to it.

[bosun21]

All you lucky cloud free (semi free) people 😔. I had completely clear blue skies the entire day, up until 4pm☁️☁️. Sods law is very real!

[Stu]

20 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

The moon of course was glorious with the central rille in the alpine valley being quite obvious as a bright line.

I caught that too Mike. No sure I would say obvious for me, but definitely visible. Not seen it for a while so was good to catch.

[Ratlet]

It's blowing a gale up here right now but clear.  I know the seeing going to be terrible, but still I quite fancy going out reading this...