Quickie on Mars

[John]

Anyone been observing Mars tonight ?.

I've had a couple of hours on the planet with my 10" newtonian and I think I've had the best views so far this year

Despite the shrinking disk diameter the contrast on the features seemed excellent this evening - maybe it's just good seeing around the Somerset area ?.

It's clouded over from the NE now though - but it was good while it lasted

[DarkerSky]

Well done John. Sounds like a good couple of hours for you there. No break in the cloud here unfortunately

[Towa]

Missed last night John, but observed Mars the previous evening and

a wonderful view of the Syrtis Major, Serpentis, Sabaeus, Meridiani and Oxia Palus.

While the planet is now looking smaller, I was quite amazed by just how much detail was visible with my 6 inch refractor.

[bing434]

Hi, John, interested to hear what eyepieces and filters proved to be most effective for you.

[John]

Hi, John, interested to hear what eyepieces and filters proved to be most effective for you.

Hi,

I don't use filters on the planets. The eyepieces used were a Pentax XW 10mm, Tele Vue Nagler Type 6's (9mm, 7mm and 5mm) and a 7mm Baader Geniune Ortho. Because the seeing seemed good I was able to use the 5mm Nagler quite a lot - it gives 240x in the scope I was using.