How is Mars oriented in my field of view?

In making a drawing how can I be sure I have the directions on Mars labeled correctly.

I know the type of telescope determines this. I have read about direct view,mirror reversed,and inverted views of Mars, but in observing I have found that this is not the whole story.

For example if I rotate the mirror diagonal(I'm using a refractor with a diagonal and GEM)"things" happen. Also,I have found the view changes depending on which side of the mount the tube is on.

I find myself saying "OK,if Syrtis Major points north" then "Hellas is a bit east of Syrtis Major",etc.I had some great views this morning, but I realized my biggest problem in identifying features is trying to decide what the orientation of Mars is in my field of view.

I know some of you are really good at explaining this sort of thing clearly.I would like to have some rules that will work no matter how the telescope,eyepiece,and mount are oriented.

Thanks in advance! Robert

Robert, have you looked at calsky.com? It has a nice mars simulator with names of features, and that will greatly assist your sketching and oreintation.
Good luck!
Ivan

Hello there Robert,

It is confusing isn't it ;-) and of course the refractor has the "right" view ;-) since it was mostly used in classical time.

Kidding aside, I've attached an image which may help. The first image is exactly as recorded without rotation in Photoshop. As you can see, Mars' NPH is well at the top slightly tilted with the view through the diagonal and eyepiece straight up (at the time Mars was near the zenith). So the SPC is actually at the bottom.

Using classical view which refractor observers at the time do not use diagonal, the view then looks like the right hand picture rotated to have south pole pointed up, which actually viola matches the Newtonian view ;-).

Although my image does not contain Syrtis Major, the tip of Syrtis Major would have pointed downward toward the bottom of the image, i.e. northward.

Lastly, one easy way to keep from getting confused is to keep track of where the terminator is before and after opposition ;-).

Hope this help.

Ron B[ee]

Attached Image: