"Tom" wrote in message
news:i_hbf.5076$Kv.1409@dukeread05...
"Greg Crinklaw" wrote in message
...
Hi Mike,

tmbMike wrote:
I was reading Greg Crinklaws cool observing essay:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/Focus/Mars/Hall.html

In there Greg quotes The Telescope Handbook and Star Atlas by Neale E.
Howard as follows:

"Certainly the strangest little objects in the whole solar system, the
two moons of Mars will rarely be seen by the amateur unless he
possesses a 16-inch telescope, and then only at favorable oppositions."


The rest of the essay and the general feel I get from reading
miscellaneous sites is that it's not very common to see these two
little moons.

No, not common. I believe the biggest factor is to have atmospheric
conditions that diminish the scattered light from mars. At the last
opposition there were a few lucky observers who saw at least one moon in
6-inch and even 4-inch scopes.

Oh, and congrats!

Clear skies,
Greg

I've been wondering if what I saw was one of the moons of Mars. I have a
6"
mak, but when I got down to 9mm and 6mm eps (222x and 333x respectively),
I
saw what looked like a moon. I'm in Arkansas if that helps anyone
determine
what I saw. The moon was on the left side of Mars about 2 diameters of the
planet away.

Just curious, but did anyone else notice that Mars was not its usual red?
It
was very white. Is it because of the shorter distance? I've seen it much
farther away, and it was very red.

The few times I've been able to observe, it has not appeared red in any ep,
rather it's appeared white. Curiously, it appears red when viewed naked
eye. It has only appeared red under telescopic observation for me when I've
put in a filter.