'Tis Season for Mars?

For some of you, this might be your first view of Mars, for others a much waited anticipation. For me and my TV-102 Light Cup, it's the longing return of the separated love ;-). So it has put together a quick HOW-TO for those who're interested.
http://members.cox.net/ronby/Mars-HOWTO.htm

I was out this morning around 5am with the Light Cup and the seeing was really BAAAAD; both Mars and Venus were twinkling! Anyway, I was surprised to see that even at the tiny size of only 5.24", it already looks like a tiny disc at 30x. I can also see why Antares was called the "Rival of Mars" as it looked like an identical twin (with the same orange color and almost the same brightness) this morning.

Let the virgil begin and best of wishes and great seeing in 2003!

Ron B[ee]

Ron -

Got up early this AM to try for the Venus-Mars-Mercury trifecta. Got hit in the face with freezing cold (46 degrees! Well, it's California, that is damn cold). Usually that is a bad sign for seeing, at least where I live. Here is my report:

Venus - bright, hopelessly turbulent, glowing ball. Only through careful observation can I even tell which side is illuminated.

Mercury - see Venus.

Mars - this was actually high enough to see without much turbulence, basically a small reddish ball at 120X. Any higher power yielded a less pleasing view.

It was fun to see some old friends for the first time in a while, though (M57, M51)...