Being windy all day, I figured the SCT would fare better than my 4-foot-long Newt tonight and got it set up before sunset. It just sat there until almost midnight when Mars was high enough up for a good observation. I first took my usual quick picture, then sat down and got my own look.
I was once again disoriented by the dust changing the features; on top of this I'm not used to the mirror-image view from using a diagonal, but Sinus Sabaeus and Meridiani made reorienting pretty painless. Ok, there's Syrtis Major on one limb, and the tiny white South Polar Cap at the top. Wow, the North Polar Hood is really spreading out, and turning a little whiter at the same time, the color now resembling that of a blue star, more white with a bluish intensity to it.
I was expecting that the dust storm would be off the limb at this time, but was surprised to see a large, very bright, yellow area on the southern hemisphere near the limb. It's size didn't dawn on me until sketching it... probably about the same size as the NPH! In fact, looking back and forth between the two really brought out the contrast of the bright yellow and bright blue of the respective clouds.
The windy night made for poor seeing, with fine detail only being visible on a couple of occasions over an hour of viewing. Still this was an exciting and worthwhile session very much due to the fast-changing dust storm and North Polar Hood. The wind got tiring by 1:30, and I went to bed.
I was once again disoriented by the dust changing the features; on top of this I'm not used to the mirror-image view from using a diagonal, but Sinus Sabaeus and Meridiani made reorienting pretty painless. Ok, there's Syrtis Major on one limb, and the tiny white South Polar Cap at the top. Wow, the North Polar Hood is really spreading out, and turning a little whiter at the same time, the color now resembling that of a blue star, more white with a bluish intensity to it.
I was expecting that the dust storm would be off the limb at this time, but was surprised to see a large, very bright, yellow area on the southern hemisphere near the limb. It's size didn't dawn on me until sketching it... probably about the same size as the NPH! In fact, looking back and forth between the two really brought out the contrast of the bright yellow and bright blue of the respective clouds.
The windy night made for poor seeing, with fine detail only being visible on a couple of occasions over an hour of viewing. Still this was an exciting and worthwhile session very much due to the fast-changing dust storm and North Polar Hood. The wind got tiring by 1:30, and I went to bed.
Attached Image:
