Mars, 2007/12/26

I spent some time at the Naylor Observatory late on Christmas night. Conditions deteriorated after I arrived but I did manage to observe Mars using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and a variety of eyepieces and color filters (Wratten #21 and 80A and CC30M). Magnifications employed were 202x, 259x, 381x, and 404x. As the seeing was quite variable, I stopped down the scope to 10 and 6 inches at times. With the 10 inch aperture mask in place, I took a few eyepiece projection photographs with a Canon Digital Rebel DSLR and a 32mm Brandon but by then Mars was playing peekaboo with clouds and the shots turned out to be mediocre at best.

Mars was 15.7" in diameter and was shining at -1.6 magnitude during my observing session. The Martian central meridian was about 300 degrees. The NPC, Syrtis Major, Sinus Sabaeus, and Sinus Meridiani were clearly visible during times of good seeing. The latter three areas appear as an indistinct dark vertical line in the attached image.

Dave Mitsky

Attached Image:

Dave,

We had clear skies here in Ohio on Christmas night, too. I observed Mars using my 90MM at 133x, Mars appeared a bit smaller than the nearby nearly full moon at 1x naked eye.

The seeing was variable here, as in your report. I did see the dark vertical bar quite easily, and glimpsed a dimmer line perpendicular to the bar. The surface of Mars looks the color of sand to me. I did not see any white in the polar area though. Thanks for the report and image.

Rick W