Mars Shines At Last!

I have not had good luck with viewing Mars for the past month! I haven't
been able to view Mars EVERY single clear night this month but the
opportunities I've had were very disappointing. ......bad bad bad seeing!!

However, last night was pretty good. I used my Orion 100mm f/6 refractor at
around 133X with nice results. The south polar ice cap stood out clearly.
Very distinct dark features in the Syrtis Major Region were easily
visible......VERY exciting stuff for me. A shorty barlow and 9mm Ortho
produced some crisp images.

The scope is an inexpensive achromat mounted on a UnistarLight mount and
wood tripod. It's amazing what a great job such inexpensive equipment can
do! I'm a lazy astronomer therefore I prefer this lightweight setup. I grab
it with one hand and carry it out onto the deck. I finished off the night
with spliting the double-double, M13, M91, and the moon.

Well that's my report!! I hope you weren't too bored with it.