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Mars (Planet, est. mag -1, est. to be in Ophiuchus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Apr 28 07:25:00 2001 UT Obs. no.: 550
This was the first acceptable view of Mars that I've had during the 2001 apparition. Using Wratten #21 and 80A color filters and magnifications of 202, 249, 259, 324, and 381x I managed to catch a glimpse of what was probably the South Polar Hood and a dark surface feature.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -2, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Vedran vrhovac (e-mail: vedran_vrhovac@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Velika Gorica, Croatia
Light pollution: severe Transparency: poor Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Oct 13 22:00:00 2000 UT Obs. no.: 1349
It was "the night". Transparency was poor (fog) and first quater Moon but seeing was almost perfect.From my terrace I looked at Mars through 8"F6 GSO dobson. Sinus Sabea was easily visible, and Oxia Palus apperad as straight gray line near eastern limb. Deucalions Regio was bright "land" between Sabaea and Pandorae Fretum. At souht near limb was bright orange patch - Argyre. SPC was small, maybe 1/15 of disk diameter. At north-west were Syrtis Major and Iapygia Viridis. Hellas was little more to the south. Arabia was bright and oragne. NPH was white.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Apr 3 07:15:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 452
Inspired by Mike Pierce's efforts, I've been meaning to stay up late (or get up early) to check out Mars. Tonight I was coming out of a movie with my wife ("The Matrix"; not bad for a Keanu Reeves film), when I saw the waning gibbous moon rising with a really bright object a few degrees away. I knew it had to be a planet, but I was disoriented for a minute; I thought I was facing south, and couldn't think what planet it could be. Of course, I was actually facing in a more easterly direction, and the planet was Mars, which was obvious to me in a few moments by a process of elimination. I just hadn't seen it in the evening yet, and hadn't realized how bright it had become since I last saw it in the predawn twilight about a month ago. Anyway, after getting home I observed it for about 30 minutes. The seeing was nice and steady, but the planet was relatively low (about 30-40 degrees altitude), and I probably didn't give the reflector enough time to really stabilize thermally. Observing at 122x and 244x I was able to detect the planet's phase (that is, the sliver taken out of its W limb), and *thought* I'd seen the N polar cap a few times, though in comparing my drawing to the observing guide in the April S&T it looks like I was placing the cap in the wrong spot (I had it a bit W of S, while it should have been a bit E of S). A few times I thought I was seeing some dark smudges on the disk, but nothing I could draw reliably.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Mike Pierce (e-mail: xtozaj@webtv.net)
Instrument: 90-mm refractor Location: Malone, Florida, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Sat Mar 27 16:30:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 451
Tonight, I again tried in vain to resolve the red planet. I used 144X and got a much larger disk, but no features whatsoever. It is becoming easily apparent that Mars is moving closer to opposition. I was suprised to see that Mars seems to be somewhat (15 degrees or so) south of the ecliptic. It was moving quite briskly some 60 degrees behind (east) of the waxing moon. It was quite brilliant and its red hue was very obvious, even naked eye. Mars is a planet that I have never had much luck with in resolving features....however, I hope you have better luck........maybe I need a larger scope!! Clear Skies.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Mike Pierce (e-mail: xtozaj@webtv.net)
Instrument: 90-mm refractor Location: Malone, Florida, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Mon Mar 1 00:30:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 444
Tonight, observed Mars moving along the ecliptic some 40 degrees east of the full moon. It was a great disappointment. Although Mars isn't coming to opposition until late April, I was still amazed at how small and featureless it is with less than 50 days to its closest approach to Earth in some time. With 175x it was only a radiant "dot." This is the maximum useable power on my small scope and I had hoped for some degree of resolution. Well, I enjoyed the hunt and I did get some good obs of M42, M44, and the moon. Clear Skies, everyone!
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Mike Pierce (e-mail: xtozaj@webtv.net)
Instrument: 03-inch refractor Location: Malone, Florida, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Oct 19 06:30:00 1998 UT Obs. no.: 407
Tonight, we looked into Leo and spotted Mars. It was a big disapointment. Although sighting it was easy, the apparition was very poor. Through my scope it appeared as a small red dot and was featureless. The best part of tonights observation was the appearance of several meteors from the Orionids. Spotted approximately 30 per hr. Strangley, the radiant appeared to move from SE to NW throughout our observation period of about 4 hrs.
Mars (Planet, est. to be in Virgo)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jul 2 06:00:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 174
In honor of the upcoming Pathfinder landing, I gave a quick look at Mars at the beginning of my observing session. The planet was about 30 degrees up in the southwest. I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't disappointed: a small, shimmering orange ball, with no detail visible during the 4 or 5 minutes of looking that I gave it. I suspect that would have been true even if I'd looked considerably longer, what with Mars being so low in the sky and only 7.5" in diameter currently. This was at 122x.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.4)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 20-inch other Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: light Transparency: poor Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Apr 29 00:45:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 122
High clouds prevented us from doing much in the way of deep-sky observing on 4/29 (4/30 UT) but the seeing was very good indeed. The clouds acted as a filter, reducing the glare of the Red Planet and allowing us some excellent views of the approximately 11.5 arc second diameter disc. Bright Hellas, triangular Syrtis Major, Meridiani Sinus (the Pipe), the North Polar Ice Cap and Utopia were all clearly evident. We began observing with my new 19mm Panoptic (267x) and then used a 16mm Konig (318x). Next, we pushed the magnification to 498x with a 10.2mm Konig, which produced a slightly "soft" image. The best view was at 423x courtesy of a 12mm Nagler type 2.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: poor Seeing: good
Time: Thu Mar 20 08:35:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 115
Finally got some good Mars observing in, on a night with a waxing gibbous moon and thin, scattered cirrus clouds. Very pleased with the performance of the 8-inch Dobsonian; it definitely gave superior high-power views compared to my old 60mm refractor. Suspect my earlier concerns were a combination of two things: being too impatient in terms of letting Mars climb high enough and letting the reflector's tube currents settle down, and not realizing how significant a factor seeing would be with the larger aperture. Anyway, I observed Mars at 244x (my highest magnification with current eyepieces) for about half an hour; this was after letting the scope sit outside for more than an hour. Made a pencil drawing and compared it to Donald Parker's March 16 images, finding excellent agreement. CM was 067 degrees. In moments of best seeing, the N polar cap was obvious, as was the dark feature adjoining it at about longitude 065. Mare Acidalium was easy, and Nilokeras was visible as a tapering extension of it extending toward the center of the disk. Mare Erythraeum was visible as a large dark patch on the SW limb.
Mars (Planet, est. to be in Virgo)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: poor
Time: Sat Mar 1 05:40:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 91
I was anxious to test the new 8-inch on Mars, so I checked it out despite the lousy seeing and the planet's low position in the sky (was about 40 degrees up in the E). Basically, it was a red blob; I wasn't able to detect even the polar cap. I'm anxious to repeat the experiment, though; next time I'll try to optimize the following variables to see if I get a better view: 1) better seeing, 2) Mars higher in the sky, 3) more-careful collimation, and 4) an off-axis mask to improve contrast.
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