Mars 09-08-03

Viewing from Stafford at around 11.30pm-12.30am. Mars was about 20-25
degrees of elevation (I'm guessing here), seeing was - interesting. It
looked as though the disk was boiling. Through the occassional steady
patches I could see the southern polar cap quite distictly and some
darker surface markings although nothing in any detail. Magnifications
used were x48 to obtain the planet, then ramping up to x240 using a
barlowed 10mm e/p. This gave surprisingly good results despite being
higher than I would normally recommend, and you *do* have to wait for
little patches of clear air that last for a second or so.

Can anyone confirm that Mrs had its 'less interesting' side pointing at
us last night? Or was it the good side and I've yet to learn patience
:-)

This is the first attempt I've had at Mars since buying my 'scope almost
two years ago. It's an Orion Optics Europa 250 with a GEM mount and I
think I'm going to have to grit my teeth and save up for an EQ6. The GEM
just seems - clunky somehow. Sometimes the 'scope position prevents you
from engaging one of the locking levers. Ho hum.

I'd also like to take this oportunity of thanking the man whose name
I've forgotten but who is in charge of replacing the street lights in
the Stafford area. He has stated that they want to start using more
energy efficient lights and to use techniques that make sure the light
goes down instead of up because, and I quote, "people want to be able to
see the stars". Sir, I've forgotten your name but you have my vote
should you ever run for local office.

Please forgive this rambling and somewhat poor observing report.

Jim
--
AIM/iChat:JCAndrew2 - now with iSight!
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 07:51:47 +0100, (Jim)
wrote:

Viewing from Stafford at around 11.30pm-12.30am. Mars was about 20-25
degrees of elevation (I'm guessing here), seeing was - interesting. It
looked as though the disk was boiling. Through the occassional steady
patches I could see the southern polar cap quite distictly and some
darker surface markings although nothing in any detail. Magnifications
used were x48 to obtain the planet, then ramping up to x240 using a
barlowed 10mm e/p. This gave surprisingly good results despite being
higher than I would normally recommend, and you *do* have to wait for
little patches of clear air that last for a second or so.

Can anyone confirm that Mrs had its 'less interesting' side pointing at
us last night? Or was it the good side and I've yet to learn patience
:-)

This is the first attempt I've had at Mars since buying my 'scope almost
two years ago. It's an Orion Optics Europa 250 with a GEM mount and I
think I'm going to have to grit my teeth and save up for an EQ6. The GEM
just seems - clunky somehow. Sometimes the 'scope position prevents you
from engaging one of the locking levers. Ho hum.

I'd also like to take this oportunity of thanking the man whose name
I've forgotten but who is in charge of replacing the street lights in
the Stafford area. He has stated that they want to start using more
energy efficient lights and to use techniques that make sure the light
goes down instead of up because, and I quote, "people want to be able to
see the stars". Sir, I've forgotten your name but you have my vote
should you ever run for local office.

Please forgive this rambling and somewhat poor observing report.

Jim

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

About all I can say is that the S polar cap seems to have shrunk from
the previous week.

ChrisH




UK Astro Ads: http://www.UKAstroAds.co.uk

On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 07:51:47 +0100, (Jim)
wrote:

Viewing from Stafford at around 11.30pm-12.30am. Mars was about 20-25
degrees of elevation (I'm guessing here), seeing was - interesting. It
looked as though the disk was boiling. Through the occassional steady
patches I could see the southern polar cap quite distictly and some
darker surface markings although nothing in any detail. Magnifications
used were x48 to obtain the planet, then ramping up to x240 using a
barlowed 10mm e/p. This gave surprisingly good results despite being
higher than I would normally recommend, and you *do* have to wait for
little patches of clear air that last for a second or so.

Can anyone confirm that Mrs had its 'less interesting' side pointing at
us last night? Or was it the good side and I've yet to learn patience
:-)

This is the first attempt I've had at Mars since buying my 'scope almost
two years ago. It's an Orion Optics Europa 250 with a GEM mount and I
think I'm going to have to grit my teeth and save up for an EQ6. The GEM
just seems - clunky somehow. Sometimes the 'scope position prevents you
from engaging one of the locking levers. Ho hum.

I'd also like to take this oportunity of thanking the man whose name
I've forgotten but who is in charge of replacing the street lights in
the Stafford area. He has stated that they want to start using more
energy efficient lights and to use techniques that make sure the light
goes down instead of up because, and I quote, "people want to be able to
see the stars". Sir, I've forgotten your name but you have my vote
should you ever run for local office.

Please forgive this rambling and somewhat poor observing report.

Jim

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

About all I can say is that the S polar cap seems to have shrunk from
the previous week.

ChrisH




UK Astro Ads: http://www.UKAstroAds.co.uk

ChrisH wrote:

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

That's it! Well, mostly.

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

Yeah, me too. Need to save for a new mount first though :-(

Jim
--
AIM/iChat:JCAndrew2 - now with iSight!
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

ChrisH wrote:

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

That's it! Well, mostly.

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

Yeah, me too. Need to save for a new mount first though :-(

Jim
--
AIM/iChat:JCAndrew2 - now with iSight!
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

Mike Dworetsky wrote:

Yes, at that time of night Syrtis Major was still well around on the night
side of Mars. You should be able to see it from the UK in about another
week or so.

MR BURNS
Excellent.
/MR BURNS

Thank you.

Jim
--
AIM/iChat:JCAndrew2
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

Mike Dworetsky wrote:

Yes, at that time of night Syrtis Major was still well around on the night
side of Mars. You should be able to see it from the UK in about another
week or so.

MR BURNS
Excellent.
/MR BURNS

Thank you.

Jim
--
AIM/iChat:JCAndrew2
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

"ChrisH" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 07:51:47 +0100, (Jim)
wrote:

Viewing from Stafford at around 11.30pm-12.30am. Mars was about 20-25
degrees of elevation (I'm guessing here), seeing was - interesting. It
looked as though the disk was boiling. Through the occassional steady
patches I could see the southern polar cap quite distictly and some
darker surface markings although nothing in any detail. Magnifications
used were x48 to obtain the planet, then ramping up to x240 using a
barlowed 10mm e/p. This gave surprisingly good results despite being
higher than I would normally recommend, and you *do* have to wait for
little patches of clear air that last for a second or so.

Can anyone confirm that Mrs had its 'less interesting' side pointing at
us last night? Or was it the good side and I've yet to learn patience
:-)

This is the first attempt I've had at Mars since buying my 'scope almost
two years ago. It's an Orion Optics Europa 250 with a GEM mount and I
think I'm going to have to grit my teeth and save up for an EQ6. The GEM
just seems - clunky somehow. Sometimes the 'scope position prevents you
from engaging one of the locking levers. Ho hum.

I'd also like to take this oportunity of thanking the man whose name
I've forgotten but who is in charge of replacing the street lights in
the Stafford area. He has stated that they want to start using more
energy efficient lights and to use techniques that make sure the light
goes down instead of up because, and I quote, "people want to be able to
see the stars". Sir, I've forgotten your name but you have my vote
should you ever run for local office.

Please forgive this rambling and somewhat poor observing report.

Jim

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

About all I can say is that the S polar cap seems to have shrunk from
the previous week.


Here is one I took from a couple of nights before. Like you, I found the
seeing was quite a bit steadier compared with my previous attempts but with
mist affecting the sharpness

http://www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.u...o_image_45.htm

BTW I find this little program useful for aligning those refracted colours.
It is a bit finicky about image size sometimes though

http://home.online.no/~arnholm/astro...AstroAlign.htm


Clear, steady skies,
Robin


--

----------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Leadbeater
N54.75 W3.24
www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/astro.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------

"ChrisH" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 07:51:47 +0100, (Jim)
wrote:

Viewing from Stafford at around 11.30pm-12.30am. Mars was about 20-25
degrees of elevation (I'm guessing here), seeing was - interesting. It
looked as though the disk was boiling. Through the occassional steady
patches I could see the southern polar cap quite distictly and some
darker surface markings although nothing in any detail. Magnifications
used were x48 to obtain the planet, then ramping up to x240 using a
barlowed 10mm e/p. This gave surprisingly good results despite being
higher than I would normally recommend, and you *do* have to wait for
little patches of clear air that last for a second or so.

Can anyone confirm that Mrs had its 'less interesting' side pointing at
us last night? Or was it the good side and I've yet to learn patience
:-)

This is the first attempt I've had at Mars since buying my 'scope almost
two years ago. It's an Orion Optics Europa 250 with a GEM mount and I
think I'm going to have to grit my teeth and save up for an EQ6. The GEM
just seems - clunky somehow. Sometimes the 'scope position prevents you
from engaging one of the locking levers. Ho hum.

I'd also like to take this oportunity of thanking the man whose name
I've forgotten but who is in charge of replacing the street lights in
the Stafford area. He has stated that they want to start using more
energy efficient lights and to use techniques that make sure the light
goes down instead of up because, and I quote, "people want to be able to
see the stars". Sir, I've forgotten your name but you have my vote
should you ever run for local office.

Please forgive this rambling and somewhat poor observing report.

Jim

Did it look something like this?
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/090803mars06.jpg

I couldn't get any sort of decent image that night, there was a lot of
mist which, although it helped stabilise the image, seemed to rob it
of all detail. Refraction seemed to be a bigger problem than last week
too (maybe particulates add to it?). Add to that a Dew From Hell, an
incessant cloud of midges that tried to nest in your ears (plus I
missed the only bright meteor of the night) and I can say I'm really
looking forward to frosty nights again.

About all I can say is that the S polar cap seems to have shrunk from
the previous week.


Here is one I took from a couple of nights before. Like you, I found the
seeing was quite a bit steadier compared with my previous attempts but with
mist affecting the sharpness

http://www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.u...o_image_45.htm

BTW I find this little program useful for aligning those refracted colours.
It is a bit finicky about image size sometimes though

http://home.online.no/~arnholm/astro...AstroAlign.htm


Clear, steady skies,
Robin


--

----------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Leadbeater
N54.75 W3.24
www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/astro.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------

Around the same time, from the Poole area, I saw a very bright meteor pass
very close to Mars. Did anyone else witness this ? This definitely
impressed the friends I was 'showing' Mars to at the time.

AG