Early morning Mars

[Rob]

Well I finally did it.. got out at 6.15 and started viewing Mars in the morning.. boy Russ is right. It was the best obs of Mars I've ever had, and the skies were a little glupy.

I used the 150p with 10.5 Ortho in a 2x barlow + 7mm Ortho in a 3 x Barlow with no breakdown on the disc!.. talk about pushing the mags. Polar caps and limited surface detail easy. It seemed the less detailed face side was on show this morning?.. I need to check with some viewing software. There was some brown markings above each polar cap.

Wow.. you must get out in the morning.

Rob

[russ]

Well done Rob.....you got out at last. Well worth it isn't it?

[Rob]

You bet.. I know the skies were not 100%.. but wow the mags you can push are insane!.

11122009.bmp

[dweller25]

Hello Rob, yes another good morning - I was viewing with a 8" Skyliner at x342 with good seeing but your right - it was the quiet side. Good polar detail though. It felt like the north pole this morning with all the frost !!!

[Rob]

Your not wrong there.. I took a cuppa tea out, setup and then found the tea was half cold!. The polar caps were so sharp. I love ortho's I have to say

[pvaz]

Your not wrong there.. I took a cuppa tea out, setup and then found the tea was half cold!. The polar caps were so sharp. I love ortho's I have to say

Yeah it's a great sight! Mars is really worth the early wakeup call!

[russ]

I like my Orthos too but found the best view this morning came with my rent-a-wreck Astronomica 7.5mm ED that i bought for tenner. Still giving 266x in the SCT but pin sharp. Found it better than either the 6mm or 10.5mm Ortho. Coupled with 20mm eye relief just capped it off. Sometimes i love my orthos, other times i find them hard work.