Observations made in the constellation Aries

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Observations made in the constellation Aries:

Mars (Planet, est. mag -2, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6 -inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Oct 24 02:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1378

Due to the rain throughout most of the weekend I could only view on Sunday night. Started viewing at 9:00 PM. Observed M27, M57, M31 and M32, NGC 869 & 884, M45 and Mars. Started with the Dumbell Nebula. At 30x it was bright and easily spotted with my 15x70 binos as a circular smudge. Brought the telescope to bear which revealed a larger smudge. Again disappointment was the key word. I could not make out the apple core. Viewed at 30x. Moved on to M57 which again was very pleasing. Best power to view was 75x. It was easier to view tonight than last weeks viewing. Moving on to M31, I easily noticed the brighter of its 2 companions. M31 was bright and elliptical as is typical whenever I view this galaxy. No dust lanes were visible as I lack the aperature. I am envious of the large aperature telescopes that can pick out individual star clusters and dust lanes within other galaxies. I then moved on to the Double Cluster, NGC 869 & 884. Tonight was pristine as I could easily make out a limiting magnitude of better than 12 with these clusters at 30x. I then moved on to the highlight of the night, Mars. Once again, a stunning view revealing a T-shaped marking on the disk. I was viewing Sinus Sabaeus as a long dark bridge extending to the north (the bottom of the T) Moab and Aeria were bright areas in the Northern hemisphere pink in color. Dominating the southern hemisphere (within visibility) were Mare Serpentis, Iapygia Virdis, Syrtis Major & Minor and Mare Tyrrenhum. These southern regions had a definite blue hue to them at both 203x with a filter and 75x without a filter. No polar caps visible nor was Hellas visible. Ended the night at 9:40 PM at low power on M45 which barely fit in my FOV at 30x.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -2.0, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-inch other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Oct 22 01:50:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1376

This evening, I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK and a red filter. It now looks like the dust storm is growing larger. To me, the dust storm looks like it is covering a large area of the northern hemishere. Another sign of the storm enlarging, is Mars now looks very yellow with the naked eye. It seems to have lost its orange tinge. Without the red filter, I could see the north polar hood. The hood now looks blue green and it doesn't seem like it will disapate soon so we can see the north polar cap. After finally seeing the south polar cap for the first time in a long time during my last observation, I couldn't even glimpse it this time around. So far, the dust storm has not hindered my observations of Mars' dark areas.

This evening, I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. With my red filter, I was able to observe the dust storm on Mars once again, but with greater difficulty. I don't think the storm has expanded yet but time and more observations will tell. After I took the red filter off, I took another look at the planet. Once again, I saw no sign of the dust storm. However, I finally got my first glimpse of the south pole in over a month. For some unknown reason, I was able to see it clearly for the first time in a long time. It is very small and it continues to shrink. I also noticed that the north polar hood may be dissipating. If this is true, then the north polar cap will soon become visible. Again, only time and more observations will tell. Finally, the limb haze seems to be getting more obvious. Also, the moon and Mars had a nice conjuction the last two nights.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -2, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6 -inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Oct 19 02:45:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1373

Tonight's viewing was the best yet for Mars! Using a combination of a neutral density and Planetary Contrast Booster, a triangular albedo structure could be easily seen covering the majority of the planet's disk at 203x. I continually spot Mare Erythraeum due to the Martian day being similar to ours. This time I also spotted Margaritifer Sinus to the west. The viewing was so well that the regions could be captured on my Meade Lunar / Planetary Imager without using a barlow (the LPI alone is 125x). Also viewed M31, M57 and NGC 869 and 884. Tried to spot Uranus but there was too much light to the south. M31 was viewed early in the night (7:30 EST)so there was so much light pollution I could not even pick out M32 nor M110. The Ring (M57) appeared rather easy at 75x but could not go higher on power for I would lose it in the glare. The Double Cluster in Perseus yielded 5 to 6 dozen starts in the 10 to 11th magnitude. All things considered a pretty good night.

This evening, I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. Several amateur astronomers have reported a new dust storm developing in the Chryse region of Mars. I attached a red filter to my eyepiece and observed Mars at 120X. Without the red filter, I was not able to see a dust storm, but with a red filter, the duststorm was very easy to see. It was a bright area which looked the same as a picture on spaceweather.com. Compared to the picture, the dust area seems to be growing larger. Anyone with a red filter should have little trouble finding this dust event on Mars.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -2, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6 -inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 18 02:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1371

Viewing was difficult tonight with the location of the nearly full moon. Observed Mare Erythraeum region at 203x with both a neutral density filter and a planetary booster in combination in order to draw out details on Mars' surface. It worked suprisingly well considering the ever increasing glare from the moon. The surface markings were much easier to see so that I did not need to use averted vision. Still no polar cap visible.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -2.0, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Colchester, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Oct 18 01:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1370

This evening, my friend, Mike dzubaty and I observed Mars with Mike's 6" dob. Like the previous reports by Joe and Lee, we also observed considerable shading accross Mars' face. I also saw that area Joe descibed called Mare Erythraeum. My map of Mars showed Mare Erythraeum looking just like what we saw in the telescope. I also could not see any trace of the south polar cap. It has melted down plenty during the last month or so. The bluish looking north polar hood continues to hide the north polar cap.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Colchester, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: poor
Time: Sun Oct 16 01:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1365

This evening, My friends, Steve Borer, Mike Dzubaty and I observed Mars with Steve's 6" dob. The seeing was poor due to windy conditions. The north polar hood still remains in place and it continues to look blue. The limb haze continues to connect the north and south poles on one side of the planet. Because of poor seeing conditions, the dark areas I saw were hard to identify. I do believe I observed Mare Cimmerium and Mare Sirenum. Earlier in the evening, we also observed Venus. Right now Venus looks slightly less than 50% waning gibbous. There was some dark albedo features along the terminator.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Sep 26 03:20:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1345

This evening, My brother Anthony and I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The dark areas of mars appeared to be Mare Cimmerium and Mare Sirenum. The north polar hood showed up very well and is blue colored. The limb haze on the western edge was fainter and colorless. The south polar cap continues to shrink and is not easy to see. The limb haze seems to link up the north polar hood and the south polar cap. Finally Mars looks to be more than 95% full.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.0, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Sep 2 05:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1300

I observed Mars early this morning with my 127mm MAK. Right now Mars is 85-90% waxing gibbous. The south polar cap is showing very nicely now. It is still fairly large. There is limb haze on the left side of Mars and the polar hood over the north polar region is easy to view now. Dark albedo features on Mars are getting very easy to observe. I may have been observing Syrtis Major. Later in the predawn hours, I observed Saturn. The rings are now tilted a lot less than last year. Also, the south equitorial belt is still easy to see. This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, his son Mike, Steve Borer and I observed Venus and Jupiter together in the western sky. Spica was also nearby.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -.5, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Aug 18 05:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1287

This morning, I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. Mars looks to be about 85% waxing gibbous now. There was a very obvious dark feature on Mars which I believe was Syrtis Major. It was very easy to see. Surprisingly, I was able to observe the south polar cap only with great difficulty. The polar hood over the north pole is just becoming visible now.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.6, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Vedran Vrhovac (e-mail: vedran_vrhovac@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Velika Gorica, Croatia
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Aug 10 02:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1284

I'm observing Mars with my new scope for just 3 weeks almost every clear night. Its very hard target but practice makes it perfect. This night I saw Syrtis Major, large dark triangular area, Hellas - bright region souht of Syrtis Major and SPC. I also saw Arabia (lighter pacth in north-west of Syrtis Major) and Mare Serpentis (it looked like lighter extension of Syrtis Major in the west) and Mare Australe (dark ring around SPC).

Mars (Planet, est. mag 0.0, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jul 27 06:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1271

This morning, I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The south polar cap is still rather large. I still see no sign of it starting to shrink yet. The only dark feature I saw was just above the south polar cap. I think the feature I saw was Mare Australe. Also Mars and the moon were in conjuction. This only added to my viewing pleasure. Finally, Mars still looks about 70% waxing gibbous.

Comet (Comet, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Andrew Powell (e-mail: vader2005@fsmail.net)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor   Location: Preston, Lancashire, England, UK
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Jan 10 22:30:43 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1140

Today was my first viewing of machhloz through my telescope i am an amatuer i only got my scope for xmas. I couldn't see the tail of the comet but i was a stunning sight to see. The colour wasn't really green but more of a greyish white but still is was beautiful. i would appreciate any tips for further viewing of the comet or planetry viewing.

Mars (Planet, est. mag 1.0, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 949

Tonight, after dinner, I went outside to view the very close conjuction of the moon and Mars. It was quite a sight. They were just .9 of a degree apart. The moon still had good earthshine to it. Even though we can't observe Mars in backyard scopes anymore, because of its increasing distance from us, Mars will continue to give us observing pleasure with more conjunctions between it and the moon and also with other planets.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag n/a, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Roger Curry (e-mail: rcurry@mediaone.net, web: http://www.nefas.org)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Jacksonville, FL, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Apr 7 00:40:00 2000 UT   Obs. no.: 521

I went to a small park on the east side of the St Johns River and was treated to a beautiful view of the conjunction of Jupiter with Mars and the Moon with Saturn.I used a low-light video camera (Supercircuits PC23C) with 50mm Contax f/1.7 SLR lens (giving approximiately 5 degree FOV) to record real-time images to Hi-8 video tape. I digitized the recording using Dazzle video capture device and made a mosaic of three still images.The mosaic and the full video are available on my FTP site at ftp://24.129.70.60 A high speed digital or cable modem is recommended for the video, since it runs about 35 Mb.

Saturn (Planet, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 15-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 31 03:20:00 1999 UT   Obs. no.: 488

After participating in a public star party at Hershey Park's Zoo America's Creatures of the Night I joined fellow ASH member Roger Studer in his secluded back yard for some end of DST observing. Using his 15" f/4.5 Obsession Dob we observed a variety of objects including M76, NGC 2022, NGC 1931, Jupiter, Saturn, and M45. We tried to log SN 1999el in NGC 6951 but had no luck in seeing it. However, the seeing was just fantastic and more than made up for not detecting the supernova. There was ample detail in Jupiter at powers in the upper two and three hundred range. Three festoons were clearly evident extending from the NEB and a red barge within the NEB was nearing the preceding limb. The real surprise was the amount of detail seen in the southern hemisphere of Saturn. I could easily see a thin white zone following a thin gray belt to the south of the planetary equator. And the south polar area was a distinctly darker shade of gray.

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