Mars, anyone?

Anyone getting any good detail on Mars lately?
I was able to clearly see the polar cap and some albedo features about 10 days ago.
I was using my 10" f/6 Starmaster at about 150x (10mm Ethos).
Haven't been able to get out much since, due to either clouds or wind.
I'm hoping that some of you are getting more eyepiece time.
Linton

I was observing Mars last night - pretty good view.

Saw the polar cap and Sinus Meridiani - Sinus Sabacus. Could also see clouds or frost on the eastern edge.

Using a Takahashi FS-102 @ 205x, 328x

Clouds for the next 2 - 3 days.

MJSangster

Lots of eyepiece time but Jet Stream overhead prevents anything other than detection of albedo features; fine detail not yet observed this apparition. Sinus Meridiani and Mare Acidalium visible for the past several nights. Telescope used is an 8" f/7 Cave @ ~200X with a Zeiss-type ortho. Seeing very poor (1-3) per the Harvard 1-10 scale and Transparency was limiting naked eye magnitude of 4.

I'm lucky to see the polar cap! It sits SO LOW in the sky up here. Wasn't able to make it out in my C90 last night and that was under pretty steady seeing conditions.

Mars is rotating on it's axis as well, so you were looking at a different face with different features from three weeks previous. Sky & Telescope on-line has a program for discovering the face you are or were looking at for any inputted date & time. Since a day on Mars is a bit longer than our own, if you viewed Mars at around the same time each night for about 5 or so weeks you would see the planet slowly rotate completely around. Mars is still large enough in a telescope at 200X to view surface markings when atmospheric Seeing permits. And Mars has an interesting side and a bland side, so knowing which face you are looking at helps identify features.

Hi, Billy, I believe that observing sitting has helped me see more because I'm more comfortable and less fidgety, and so am thinking more about what's in the eyepiece. I use a step stool which works for most (about 90%) of my sessions. When and if I get a Dob as a complementary telescope for my 5" F6.5 refractor, I'll probably bite the bullet and also purchase an observing chair.

Best Regards,

I have several damaged lumbar vertebrae and find that the small 5-foot high step-ladder that I have for the neighborhood kids to reach the eyepiece of my GEM 8" f/7 & 10" reflectors also serves very well as a lean-upon if I rest my arms on the top platform of the ladder. This safely steadies me and takes the standing strain off my back. I find this method of upper body support while standing to be more comfortable per my backache than prolonged sitting (I also have an adjustable-height observing stool). Actually, it was a friend of mine taking turns observing with his granddaughter and so he didn't bother moving the ladder out of the way when he discovered resting on the ladder's top enabled comfortably relaxed lengthy observing. Pad the ladder's top for the ultimate in comfort and bore some holes in the fold-up paint can shelf to hold eyepieces.

OBSERVING MARS AND SATURN 5-24 WITH MY 10"F/6 DOB USING A 6MM UO HD EYEPIECE 254X. DETAIL / CONTRAST ON BOTH PLANETS THAT EVENING WAS VERY GOOD FROM MY YARD HERE SAVANNAH, GA.
I OWNED A OBSERVING CHAIR A NUMBER YEARS AGO BUT SOLD IT HERE ON A-MART. IT WAS MADE OF OAK, RATHER HEAVY. I DISCOVERED AS I OBSERVED IN THE SAME AREA OF THE SKY, AND NOT HAVING TO MOVE THE CHAIR OR HAVING TO READJUST THE HEIGHT IT WAS OK. BUT AFTER SETTING UP A 18" AND WORKING THAT DAY IT BECAME A TO MUCH OF A BURDEN. FOR THOSE WHO DRAW OR IMAGE AT THE SCOPE WHERE YOU AS STILL MOST OF THE TIME ITS A GREAT COMFORT.