Mars at 6.2 arc seconds.

[mikeDnight]

Observations from the night April 6th 2023. 4" refractor.

 

[Roy Challen]

I looked at Mars last night too, with my FS60...the disc was nicely resolved but no detail could be seen. It's forecast to be clear tonight...and the Skylight is ready.

[mikeDnight]

16 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

I looked at Mars last night too, with my FS60...the disc was nicely resolved but no detail could be seen. It's forecast to be clear tonight...and the Skylight is ready.

 I hope you have success tonight Roy. I had chance to observe Mars with Dweller25 this evening, using his Tak FS128. At first the detail was seen quite easily, but the night rwasn't as good as the previous night with the FC100DZ and soon deteriorated until detail was virtually lost. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Sunshine]

Mars is on the menu for tonight, can’t wait to have a looksee.

[jetstream]

10 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Mars is on the menu for tonight, can’t wait to have a looksee.

Geez, all this Mars talk has me going for it tonight too . Will warm up on DSO for an hour first with the 10" then switch to the Triplet Super Apochromat once the moons up.

Good luck tonight!

[jetstream]

@mikeDnight Well I got some shading on Mars with the Hr's and to a lesser extent the ZZ/VIP. Went up to 375X . Very nice bright orange too but I'm not as good as you guys at this, I know that. The HRs beat my Zeiss zoom tonight, but holy cow is the snap focus fast with those HRs, brutal.

I went back to something Im good at to finish up- the 10" dob on M101 which showed its spirals and a couple HII areas. The Leo triplet stunning, as was M81/M82 and the 17mm Ethos got the nod on all of these.

[mikeDnight]

5 hours ago, jetstream said:

@mikeDnight Well I got some shading on Mars with the Hr's and to a lesser extent the ZZ/VIP. Went up to 375X . Very nice bright orange too but I'm not as good as you guys at this, I know that. The HRs beat my Zeiss zoom tonight, but holy cow is the snap focus fast with those HRs, brutal.

I went back to something Im good at to finish up- the 10" dob on M101 which showed its spirals and a couple HII areas. The Leo triplet stunning, as was M81/M82 and the 17mm Ethos got the nod on all of these.

Youre probably every bit as good as everyone else Gerry. Given your temperatures there may have been ice crystals in the air that washed out the view possibly? But seeing conditions can change in an instant, so it can be hit and miss at times. Last night wasn't as good as the previous night because of turbulence. Racking the scope out of focus slightly showed a river of fast moving air, so definition was lost on Mars.  The initial view was quite good, but rapidly deteriorated. Venus earlier in the evening was beautiful against a blue sky, but deteriorated later due to the jetstream. See Gerry, you're to blame! 

To be honest, it's only on exceptional nights that I use very high powers. Generally I loiter around 200X or less so as to maintain the definition and contrast on a planet. It's better studying a small sharp disc than a larger blurry one. And I really prefer observing the planet's using a binoviewer as I find it more relaxing, which helps with picking out subtle detail over the length of the observation. Have you tied any colour filters while observing Mars? 

[jetstream]

3 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

Given your temperatures there may have been ice crystals in the air that washed out the view possibly?

Its possible but I didnt see the associated haze or glare out there. The disk was sharp at 375x and I went up and down with mag trying things. I thought I saw something white in there and out of position for the cap, but who knows. I think it all boils down to me as an observer lol!

I dont have filters, just a Neodymnium where ever that is.I must get the binoviewers out with the TSA, forgot last night in my flurry of scope set ups.The main thing is I had fun!

ps seeing was vg and I opened up a star to a nearly perfect diffraction pattern.

Edited April 8, 2023 by jetstream

[jetstream]

@mikeDnight I use Pickering scale and last night was a 9 with the disk just moving. I use it because its easy and not subject to interpretation really.

https://www.damianpeach.com/pickering.htm