Go out & see Mars now!

Just came in the house here at 4:45am local. Mars was beautiful. Had the 6"
Dob out & was able to crank power up to 300X with nice clear, steady skies here
in NE Pennsylvania (finally, no rain). The polar ice cap is quite prominent.
Was surprised to start seeing surface details even at 50X. And it's only
going to get better by Aug 27th, albiet the weather gods on Earth & Mars hold
out. Too bad, woke up the wife while in & out of the house. Heck, I had here
come out & see it too. Go now. Stop reading this & go.

Ralph
41 16N 75 50W

Agreed. I am in Bristol TN, in NE TN-SW VA, on the TN-VA border. I live in
a second floor apt (top floor) and have a south-facing balcony. Mars is
looking down on my balcony between 0230 and sunup now. I am troubled with
the damn security lights in the apt parking lot -- but --

I'm looking at Mars through either an ETX-90 or XT-8 Dob. The Dob runs up
to 300X with no problem. I am using red (25) and orange (21 ?? I forget
the number) filters and the polar cap is standing out very well.

Anyone who is not getting up in time for viewing Mars at 0400 is missing a
real show.

--
----
JAS


"RalphMW" wrote in message
...
Just came in the house here at 4:45am local. Mars was beautiful. Had the
6"
Dob out & was able to crank power up to 300X with nice clear, steady skies
here
in NE Pennsylvania (finally, no rain). The polar ice cap is quite
prominent.
Was surprised to start seeing surface details even at 50X. And it's only
going to get better by Aug 27th, albiet the weather gods on Earth & Mars
hold
out. Too bad, woke up the wife while in & out of the house. Heck, I had
here
come out & see it too. Go now. Stop reading this & go.

Ralph
41 16N 75 50W

Truely remarkable see condtions this morning. Even at 2:00 a.m the image of
Mars in the scope was stead fast. At last a great weekend of clear skies and
good seeing in NE Penna. The weather was terrible the week I took off from
work.

John D. Sabia


Just came in the house here at 4:45am local. Mars was beautiful. Had the 6"
Dob out & was able to crank power up to 300X with nice clear, steady skies
here
in NE Pennsylvania (finally, no rain). The polar ice cap is quite prominent.

Was surprised to start seeing surface details even at 50X. And it's only
going to get better by Aug 27th, albiet the weather gods on Earth & Mars hold
out. Too bad, woke up the wife while in & out of the house. Heck, I had
here
come out & see it too. Go now. Stop reading this & go.

Ralph
41 16N 75 50W