We set up in a friends backyard at 10:30pm and sat down for a few minutes to let the scopes cool down. We had a 4" and a 6" refractor one 8" Newtonian and an NS8GPS at the party.
I brought the NS8GPS because I thought that it would be
the better planetary scope rather than the 15" DOB.
At about 12am wer started checking Mars out and the viewing was still not that clear. About 1am it started to get much better and by 2am the viewing was at its best.
I was able to see what I believe was Acidalia Planitia,Olympia Planitia, and Planum Boreum. The dark area along the southern cap was very visable. I could see the northern cap at time of greatest clarity.
What was interesting was I used a Parks ALP filter and was amazed at how much detail it brought out! It seemed to make the darkened areas just jump out at you. The southern cap became very bright and the dark area around it was even more evident. I got the filter on a EP deal and had never used it before. A pleasant surprise.
I am new to Mars so I am not absolutely sure of the name of the areas I was seeing, but they seemed to match these name on the map.
I was using a 12mm Nagler with a 2" Big Barlow at 338x and ws very surprised at how good Mars looked considering that we were in a backyard in a large valley with a lot of air above us. I usually go up to 8,300' to Mt Pinos for observing. I was also surprised that the 12mm Nagler barlowed seemed to out perform th 6.7 UWA that night. Never thought that it would.
We packed it up at 3:30am and I wenot home exhausted! :^)
I am going up on 8/22/03 or 8/24/03 to Mt. Pinos just for the one day.
I am planning a 4 day trip to Mt Pinos 9/19/03-9/23/03 to take some long looks before it goes away.
Dark Skies all,
Floyd
I brought the NS8GPS because I thought that it would be
the better planetary scope rather than the 15" DOB.
At about 12am wer started checking Mars out and the viewing was still not that clear. About 1am it started to get much better and by 2am the viewing was at its best.
I was able to see what I believe was Acidalia Planitia,Olympia Planitia, and Planum Boreum. The dark area along the southern cap was very visable. I could see the northern cap at time of greatest clarity.
What was interesting was I used a Parks ALP filter and was amazed at how much detail it brought out! It seemed to make the darkened areas just jump out at you. The southern cap became very bright and the dark area around it was even more evident. I got the filter on a EP deal and had never used it before. A pleasant surprise.
I am new to Mars so I am not absolutely sure of the name of the areas I was seeing, but they seemed to match these name on the map.
I was using a 12mm Nagler with a 2" Big Barlow at 338x and ws very surprised at how good Mars looked considering that we were in a backyard in a large valley with a lot of air above us. I usually go up to 8,300' to Mt Pinos for observing. I was also surprised that the 12mm Nagler barlowed seemed to out perform th 6.7 UWA that night. Never thought that it would.
We packed it up at 3:30am and I wenot home exhausted! :^)
I am going up on 8/22/03 or 8/24/03 to Mt. Pinos just for the one day.
I am planning a 4 day trip to Mt Pinos 9/19/03-9/23/03 to take some long looks before it goes away.
Dark Skies all,
Floyd
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
