Mars at Opposition Jan 29th

[DarkerSky]

Seems like there were quite a few people looking at Mars on the night of opposition. Great stuff

Here is what I saw with my 16" at x295 magnification.

22-30 to 23-15 UT

CM approx 22 degrees

Seeing approx 3 (sometimes 4)

Mare Acidalium had a fair bit of depth in the intensity of its darkness. On the preceeding limb it seemed to grade into fading striations...reminded me of a disipating thunder cloud in its structure. It was much darker just west of the CM and on the cusp of the NPC.

In the south Sinus Sabeaus and Sinus Meridiani were very distinct. Sabeaus showed a pronouned dark line feature that extended towards the preceeding edge. Meridiani showed a lovely curveness to its following edge. The the gap of lighter material between Meridiani and the preceeding edge of Mare Erythraeum was very noticeable. Margaritifer Sinus had good structure too..it seemed to 'cup' to the north and south of Sinus Meridiani.

Of note too was the brighter area on the south preceeding edge. I have marked this as a dashed line on the sketch. No detail was pulled out of the NPC this time.

[dweller25]

Great sketch. I find using a #21 red filter helps reduce the brightness (and glare) of Mars and significantly improves contrast.

[russ]

Really nice sketch and nice write up of the features on show.

I agree #21 Red, i would have called it Orange though, helped improve contrast. But #29 Red is too much for my 8".

Russ