Mars/Saturn 4th December 2010

[russ]

Firstly what a cracking night. Just as you imagine a winters night to be. Crystal clear, frosty, crisp and amazing transparency to the naked eye. Just a shame about the nearly full moon blazing away, i think it would have been a cracker for deepsky.

I started off the night at 7.30pm on the 3rd. Turned my new (to me) Celestron C80-ED towards Jupiter for a first light. First thoughts were "crikey that is bad". Hopefully the seeing, not the scope. Simply couldn't get a sharp view at any magnification. Decided to pull out the dob for comparison. And yes indeed it was the seeing........flippin awful. The dob could see no more than C80. A fuzzy blob with two lines across it.

Decided to checkout Albireo instead. Such a simple thing to see but one of the most amazing in the sky. The colour contrast between the stars never fails to amaze me. I find it mesmerising and it really is where a good ED/Apo shines above all other scope types. Pin point stars, velvet background and beautiful star colours......awesome!

Covered up the scopes at 8pm and headed indoors. Had little interest in observing until the next morning. Besides Transformers 2 on Bluray was ready and waiting.

Back up at 5am, straight outside and greeted by the same awesome sky. Only there was a difference......the stars were not twinkling anywhere near as bad as they were 9 hours previous. Transparency was still excellent but the seeing had improved no end.

Turned the C80 onto Mars first. With the 6mm Ortho the view was soooo sharp. Very small disk at 100x but already it looked very promising. Steady as a rock Grabbed the Ultima and added it to the 6mm for 200x in the little 80mm. Oh yes, that is what it's all about. Straight away see Srytis Major, Hellas and the polar cap. Now that is amazing for a little 80mm. The ED80 just so punches above it's weight, it never fails to impress. So glad i sold the ZS 66SD.

Then turned the 200P towards Mars. 200x didn't seem enough with the 200P. So reached for the 10.5mm Ortho and Tal 3x for 343x. Still sharp but the features were much easier to see now. Srytis Major and Hellas just stand out so well. I spent the next 20mins just gazing into this setup. More details popped into view as time went by.

MARS ROCKS!

Saturn was gaining some good height just before dawn, so reluctently dragged myself away from Mars. Never thought i would ever say this but Saturn didn't give the same thrill. Could see two bands, 3 moons but not Cassini. It was sharp and looked nice in both scopes. But Mars is the showpiece.

I've really enjoyed Mars so far this year. Perhaps more than most because of the time i choose to observe. I think Mars will put on a show early next year that we will all enjoy.

Regards

[dweller25]

Russ I was out too looking and drawing Mars with my 8" F/6 Dob.

It's still a very small target but surface detail is now easy to detect.

I saw the North polar cap, Utopia region, Syrtis Major, Hellas region, Mare Tyrrhenum and Mare Serpentis. All with an 8mm TV plossl and x2 Ultima barlow giving x300. Took some chasing though with the dob !!

Great start to the day :-)

[beamish]

great report Russ, even if I am a little envious about not being up early enough this am

Karlo

[russ]

Yep constant nudging required at that sort of mag but amazing how it becomes second nature.

The features were really popping out this morning, the seeing was excellent.

A really great start to the day.

[Towa]

Great to see reports of people picking up detail on Mars.

I took my 45 year old Dixons 76mm f/16 refractor out this morning at 06:45 UT,

and Mars was great.

Using magnifications of from 166 - 250x, I easily saw the North polar cap and

Utopia. The Syrtis Major and Mare Tyrrheaum were very prominent.

Hellas was bright, but not as bright as the NPC.

Next was Saturn, two moons visible and the rings crossing the planet

picked up straight away. Using a Baader Orthoscpoic eyepiece revealed

a band in the Northern hemisphere.

Finished off with a look at my favourite double star Izar. The companion was no trouble

in the scope, the secondary appeared to be in the diffraction ring.

Only 30 minutes of observing, but boy it was well worth it.

[Rob]

Good job Russ. I was out till 1am last night. Mars was fuzzy and low still then, much lower than Jupiter.. I need to get up early and check my fave planet out in my ED80

[Doc]

Fantastic report Rob really enjoyed reading it. I have yet to see Mars this year but I hope I do soon, am going to put the 4mm uwan in the 16" dob to give me x457 so I hope it's good.

[bish]

I had to get up at 4am on the 4th to let my dog out. Mars and Saturn were there shining brightly to the naked eye. Shame my scope is stored in the bedroom where my other half was asleep. Itching for another clear night to get my first proper look at Mars this year (with a new scope too).

[cloud9]

Having consulted stellarium Mars is closely following the Moon tonight so any chance of seeing Mars with the naked eye will be hampered by the moon to begin with.

[russ]

chance of seeing Mars with the naked eye will be hampered by the moon to begin with.

Rain and cloud will put pay to any chance long before the moon It's tipping it down here.

Hope i've inspired some to get up early.

[cloud9]

Mars is even closer to the moon tonight so spotting mars will be troublesome. Luckily the weather is decent at the moment. I hope it stays like it.