Mars

[mdstuart]

Mars is out so I left my scope to cool for half an hour.

What a difference. You can now see the polar cap relatively easily using the 4mm or 6mm Ortho..

There is a dark marking just above the pole which is a flat triangular shape but spreads down and then right along the equator. There is a larger dark patch towards the top left of the disk.

Awesome...

So who can tell me which dark patches I was seeing at 9.30pm tonight?

Mark

[mdstuart]

Attached in my humble drawing of how mars looked at 9.30 pm.

I would love to compare it to an image so take some tonight for me folks.

Mark

[brianb]

I would love to compare it to an image so take some tonight for me folks.

Sorry but the clouds aren't playing ball ....

The dark marking attached to the north polar cap which is hook shaped in your drawing is Mare Acidalium, the other dark marking is the complex of "mare" stretching from Sinus Meridiani through Margaritifer Sinus. Or, to use modern names, Acidalia Planitia, Meridiani Terra, Margaritifer Terra. Chryse is the bright area at the centre of the disk.