Mars on Easter Sunday

[DarkerSky]

Out at dusk with the 16" to try and get the most from the red planet before it dropped over the top of my house. Detail is very subtle on the more featureless side. That said, picked up a fair amount of detail in about an hour and a half's observing using a red filter to boost contrast

Here is the sketch:

16" Mag x295

Red filter

Seeing: 3

20.30 to 21.15 UT

CM approx 122 degrees

Disc only 8.9 arc seconds in diameter now. Phase 91%. NPC very small and quite dim. A bright area over the eastern limb rivalled the NPC in brightness, and was the more eye catching feature. To the north and south of this bright area were darker markrings - darker in the south, which corresponded to Solis Lacus just rotating off the disc.

The central part of the disc was a melee of faint markings that were difficult to pin down given the average seeing. It broadly formed an x-shape across the disc with brighter areas noted in the southwest and northwest close to the phase terminator.

In the north dropping down to the NPC collar there seemed to be a large featureless expanse, other than a hooked faint marking working its way to the northwest

[dweller25]

Nice drawing - I think I need more aperture.