Sunday AM report

Sunday 7/20/03 Early AM

Just after midnight I checked the sky,
it was clear, but a bit of wind still
blowing, so I took a bit of sleep. Got
up at about 2:30am, had me a cup of
coffee and went outside, as I had figured
the wind was down to just a tiny 1mph
at most.

So I uncovered Babylon 8 and took it out
to the metal cover in the center driveway
for the waste tanks, it's the one smooth
level spot in the whole park and in the
area where I have a more or less fair
view of the sky from east to west overhead.

By this time Mars was due south and higher
than the trees, on the edge of the light
dome from Palmdale/Lancaster. Because the
scope is outside 24/7, it's always near the
outside temp, no cooldown needed, so I got
my lineup of EP's ready and started catching
some light.

The closest view of Mars came with the 4.8mm
nageler, I took a bit of time getting the best
view with it, my mount is not as smooth as I'd
like it yet, so I still have work to do. What
I had to do was get Mars just out of sight and
left it drift across the FOV, adjusting the
knobs until I got as clean a view as I could get.
This took time, as because of the storm that
passed threw the High Desert, we had more humid
air and with the warm temps, ( 80F ) the EP would
fog up and I had to pull back to let it defog.

Once I got the planet clear, I could see the ice
cap, and just make out a light gray/back area
under it that seemed to cover about 1/3 the planet.
At one time I saw what appered to be a flash of light,
which I figured must have been my poor eye sight
playing tricks. I'm not sure, but I " Think " I saw a
slight dark area near the other pole area, but with
the Palmdale/Lancaster light dome and the stupid
driveway lights in the trailer park, that could have
been anything.

Then I moved over to the moon, put the moon filter on
and looked for stuff I've never seen yet, but
then I switched to the new telview 17mm and the
moon filter on it, gave a very nice view of most of
the moon, then moved to my UO 12mm with moon filter.

During all of this the air was so-so, I could see some
slight movement high up and ofcourse heat was still
coming up from the blacktop driveway too.

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond ( GROUNDED )

Shot PS. July 20th 1969 Man Lands on the Moon
Happy Birthday Apollo 11



--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
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Hi Starlord,

You wrote:

snip
I'm not sure, but I " Think " I saw a
slight dark area near the other pole area
unsnip

Sounds like you may have viewed the area which bears the wonderful name of
"Utopia."

Take a look at the following website for lots of info on viewing Mars:
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing...icle_985_1.asp


.. . .Martin