Mars Sketch 9.29.03

Hi,

It seems that the dark albedo features have lost a bit of contrast and didn't appear as dark as I seem to remember.

The Northern Polar Hood was quite striking and showed decent delineation.

That attached sketch was done without filters.

Sol Robbins

Attached Image:

Hey, Sol, nice to see more of your usual excellent work. I just finished an observation myself, and now that you mention it, the contrast in the eyepiece did seem to be a little low. I wonder if it's a side effect of the disk getting smaller and details getting a little harder to see. Maybe we're just spoiled from when it was 25 arc seconds across? Still looked great, though!

Best regards,
Doug Scobel

Sol,

An outstanding observation of Mars showing a wealth of detail. The delicate shadings over the southern hemisphere of Mars between Solis Lacus (towards the following (left) limb) and Margaritifer Sinus (pointed albedo feature towards the preceding (right) limb) are accurately rendered in your observation. The Northern Polar Hood (NPH) is noticeable as well. I hope that you, and other observers, continue to observe Mars for some time. Have you been using your 9.75" Newtonian reflector lately? The best of luck in future observations.

Regards,
Carlos