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Mars (Planet)
Observer: Joseph (e-mail: williestinks@gmail.com)
Instrument: 625-mm refractor Location: gwinn, MI, US
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Mar 11 02:44:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1766
I had spent the night observing stars with my teachers newton 900mm(which she let me borrow for the year). The newton needs some fixing. Anyway I decide to pull out my old scope (with a broken tripod) and view the moon. I got bored of this and tried for a final time to locate Mars... This time it worked and I got to see Mars's red color.. There where not many things I could see on it, but I could still see it great... Is there a storm at the time on mars... Could that be why I could not see it well??? Anyway Im going to pack up and head to bed.. Waking up early... What will I see... Venus??? Email me at williestinks@gmail.com... Wish me luck
Saturn (Planet, est. mag -.5, est. to be in Leo)
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 Feb 25 00:45:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1764
This evening I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK. Since Saturn is at opposition I tried to view the Seeliger effect which is a brightening of Saturn's rings at opposition. The Seeeliger effect wasn't nearly as bright as last year. I think the reason is the rings are more edge on this year which reduces the reflected sunlight on the rings. I also noticed the south polar hood wasn't nearly as dark as it was last year. Last year the polar hood was almost black and very large in size. This year I could hardly see it at all. Finally the only moon I saw was Titan.
Saturn (Planet, est. mag .21, est. to be in Leo)
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: Tue Jan 29 04:15:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1757
This evening I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK. With Saturn's rings less than two years away from being edge on I am now able to see both hemispheres of Saturn. However, I could not see any albedo markings on Saturn's northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere I was able to view the south equitorial belt and the south polar hood which is only slightly darkened. I also saw Saturn's satellites Rhea which was close to the planet and Titan which was well away from Saturn.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: Garden Grove, California, United States of America
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Jan 20 02:15:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1753
The Moon had already passed the Planet as they rose in the NE but it's STILL a good sight as I type this.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.3, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Wed Jan 9 23:15:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1750
This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. Mars is now starting to become slightly waning gibbous. The two areas I observed were Mare Australe and the Tharsis region. These two areas were very easy to see. I didn't see much of the north polar region this time so I still don't know if the polar hood has desolved.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.57, est. to be in Gemini)
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: Sun Dec 30 00:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1748
This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The martian features I viewed tonight were Mare Chromium, Mare Cimmerium and Mare Sirenum. I think the north polar ice cap may be peeking out from under the north polar hood. It's really hard to tell but I'll try to observe Mars on the next clear night. Also limb haze is quite pronounced on one side of Mars. When you look at Mars, Beetelgeuse and Aldebaran you will see what some astronomers refer to as the orange triangle. Beetelgeuse is the point of the triangle with Mars on its left and Aldebaran on its right. It's worth seeing.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Gemini)
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: Wed Dec 26 00:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1747
After stuffing myself for Christmas I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The two main martian features were Mare Chronium and Mare Cimmerium. I was able to see a cloud in the area of Eridania. It was quite obvious. The north polar hood is still blocking our view of the polar ice cap. There was considerable limb haze on both the evening and morning sides of Mars.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.54, est. to be in Gemini)
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: Tue Dec 18 00:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1745
This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. This time Mars featured Syrtis Major on the earth facing side of Mars. Unlike last month I was not able to see the blue clearing in Syrtis Major. The Hellas Basin was also in view but this month I saw no clouds in Hellas. Last month I saw a big cloud in Hellas. Other features I observed on Mars were Sinus Sebaeus, Mare Serpentis, Iapygia and Mare Tyrrhenum. The north polar hood was very difficult to see and I also did not see any limb haze this time around. Earlier, I observed an earth grazing Geminid meteor that slowly traveled from horizon to horizon. It was about second magnitude, yellow in color and it lasted about four seconds.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.54, est. to be in Gemini)
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 Dec 13 01:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1744
Last evening I observed mars with my 127mm MAK. This time Sinus Sebaeus was the area facing my scope. The limb haze still seems to be on one side and the north polar hood continues to be white in color. I noticed during Mars' last three close encounters the NPH has been rather slow to lift. I believe this indicates Mars may also be experiancing global warming. I also noticed the southern ice cap melts faster and virtually disappears. This was not the case years ago when I observed Mars. Now here is food for thought. The last time I observed Jupiter's little red spot it occured to me that the reason it formed is because Jupiter is also warming up. Storms form as a result of warming temperatures thus the formation of the LRS. Could it be because the sun is changing???
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Dec 7 02:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1742
This evening my brother Anthony and I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The seeing was stupendous when we put the scope on Mars. We could clearly see and identify the dark areas of Mars. In the southern hemishere we were able to identify Mare Australe, Mare Erythraeum, Aurorae Sinus, Mararitifer Sinus and Oxia Patus. In the northern hemishere we had a clear view of Niliacus Lacus. The north polar hood now looks completely white after many months of being blue. We also had a great view of the limb haze. I can't remember when I saw Mars this clearly. We also took advantage of the great seeing to observe M42 The Orion Nebula. M42 really stood out and and we were able to see some very fine tendrils. The whole nebula had a greenish tinge to it. We then got my night vision scope in order to observe Comet 17P/Holmes. This scope is only 1.5X but it shows the comet as almost a tear drop shape. A night vision scope is a great second instrument to have in a backyard observatory. Later this month another comet will gace our skies at about 5th magnitude and I will have my night vision scope all ready for it also.
Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.4)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Wed Dec 5 11:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1741
This morning I arose to enjoy the conjuction of the moon and Venus. They were about 4 degrees apart and it was a beautiful sight.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -.8, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Thu Nov 8 04:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1734
This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. As Joe Caggiano said in his latest post Mars' features are now appearing better. While I was observing Syrtis Major I suddenly saw it become a blue color. This means I was able to see the famous blue clearing of Mars in Syrtis Major. Joe also mentioned the north polar region as both the polar hood and ice cap. Thats the impression I get also. I think the polar hood may be dissapating very slowly which is allowing the ice cap to slowly emerge into view. Earlier in the evening my brother Anthony and I observed Comet 17P/Holmes with my 10X50 binoculars. As the comet grows in size the color of it seems to have changed from pale green about two weeks ago to pale blue now. I am in my glory observing Mars and the comet.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.76, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Nov 7 07:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1733
Viewed Mars last night with a new 5x Apo barlow for some incredible views. Starting around 11:00 PM there was nothing more to see than a bright orange blob. Every hour the night wore on the image became exceedingly better. By 2:00 AM I could clearly see 2 major land masses as well as the polar cap and hood. Visually, I used a 40mm and a 25mm ep with the 5x barlow for 150x and 240x respectively. Using the camera, I was easily over 500x. I have posted pics on my website.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -.6, est. to be in Gemini)
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 Nov 2 04:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1729
Just after midnight I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The first thing I noticed was Mars' north polar ice cap was showing. This means the north polar hood has desolved. Like Joe Caggiano mentioned in the previous post I too am having difficulty seeing the dark albedo features on Mars. I may have seen the white area of the Hallas Basin but I can't be sure. I think there may still be some dust lingering in Mars' atmosphere. Before dawn I arose again to take my first look at Saturn. I can now see part of Saturn's northern hemisphere as Saturn's rings become closer to edge on. I couuld not see any features on Saturn yet. It's still a long way from opposition. Finally I also took a look at Venus. It looks like Venus' waxing face is now about half lit. I also observed some light albedo shading in the equitorial region of Venus
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.8, est. to be in Gemini)
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 Oct 29 04:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1725
Early this morning I observed Mars and the Orion Nebula with my 127mm MAK. Mars' dark features are showing better as Mars draws closer to earth. I also saw limb haze on one end of Mars. Mars is about 90% waxing gibbous. The Orion Nebula has a nice greenish tinge to it. Even bright moonlight didn't stop me from seeing Orion in all its glory. Earlier I took another look at Comet 17P/Holmes in my 10x50 binoculars. This comet is huge even in binos. It looks stellar to the naked eye. With good weather coming this week I will be observing Mars and Comet Holmes all week long.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.6, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 28 08:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1728
Mars' distance continues to shrink. The polar cap was easily visible but I did expect alittle more surface detail and albedo markings. At the time of my viewing, Mars was 11.83" arcseconds diameter and a mere 0.75 AU from Earth. This corrolates to 69.75 Million miles. That's 20 million less than my previous posting just a ew weeks ago. Mars' magnitude is -0.6. At it's brightest in late Decmber, only the moon and Venus will outshine it. I have posted pics on my website.
Uranus (Planet, est. mag 5.8, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 15 05:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1720
Yet another "first" for the new scope. My observable limit of the solar system was literally doubled this weekend as I had the pleasure of viewing and imaging the planet Uranus. It is currently located 2x as far from Earth as Saturn is. This makes Uranus a whopping 19.28 AU (astronomical units) from Earth, or 1.793 BILLION miles away. It is currently only 3.7 arc-seconds which is very small. The most amazing thing is that, by ultra-processing the image, I believe I also imaged Titania, which is Uranus' largest satellite. Titania is magnitude 13.73 and is almost at the observable limit of my telescope. I did not know I had picked up the moon (as well as a possible 2 others) until I processed the image. Titania measures 1,578 km or just under 900 miles in diameter. It orbits Uranus at 435,800 km from the planet which is almost identical to Earth's own moon's distance. I have posted images on my website.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -.2, est. to be in Gemini)
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: Sun Oct 14 04:45:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1719
Early this morning I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The dark features on Mars are now getting easier to see. I was able to see and identify Syrtis Major. Also the north polar hood is becoming more pronounced. In my last report about Mars I misidentified it as the south polar hood. That was the first time I ever made a mistake in my entire life.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.17, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 2 07:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1717
Got my first real good viewing of Mars this season. It was also my first viewing with my new 10" scope. Using my binoviewers and a 2x barlow as well as a 1.9x, I managed to slow my scope down to f/17.9. The surface details were subtle but clearly there. On Mars' left limb was a blueish-white hooded polar cap. On the right limb extending from the 3:00 to the 6:00 position was a large mass which turned out to be Syrtis Major. The surface setail was a light tan on a peach-colored disk (except for the polar cap. Mars is currently 10.1 arcseconds in size and is a distance of just under 90 million miles away (0.967 AU) and quickly closing. It currently shines at magnitude -0.17. Opposition is on December 24 of this year. I have posted a picture on my website.
Mars (Planet, est. mag .2, est. to be in Taurus)
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 Sep 20 04:45:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1711
Early this morning I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. As the dust on Mars slowly continues to settle and Mars continues to draw closer to Earth I find I can see more albedo shadings om Mars. There also appears to be a polar hood developing on the south pole. Mars is about 80% waxing gibbous also. I also got up just before dawn to observe Venus. Venus is now about 20% waxing crescent. This time I was not able to see any albedo shading on Venus. Later on in the morning I also observed the sun with my sunspotter Solar Telescope. The sun's face is still completely blank. No spots at all.
Mars (Planet, est. mag 02, est. to be in Taurus)
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 Sep 13 04:45:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1709
Early this morning I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. I am now able to observe more albedo markings which shows the martian dust storm is winding down. Also Mars is looking more orangy to the naked eye which also indicates the storm is slowly winding down. I then attached my Star Spectroscope to observe the bright star Aldebaran. Aldebaran shows three spectral lines which means it's an old cool star. However, Aldebaran is not as old or as cool as Betelgeuse, with seven spectral lines, and Antares with four spectral lines. With a 32mm eyepiece I compared and contrasted the two open clusters The Hyades and The Pleiades. The Pleiades contain mostly young blue stars with nebulousity showing around The Pleiades' bright stars while the Hyades contain mostly yellow older stars with no nebulousity.
Mars (Planet, est. mag .3, est. to be in Taurus)
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: Wed Sep 5 05:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1707
This morning I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. It looks like the duststorm is really starting to wind down as reported by other amateur astronomers. I am now able to see some dark features on Mars and I think I can see what's left of the south polar ice cap. Mars is now starting to look yellow orange in color with the naked eye. This is also an indication of the duststorm weakening. Mars is also about 85% waxing gibbous. Just before sunrise I got up to observe Venus. Venus is now about 15% waxing crescent. The slim crescent of Venus looks exactly like the letter C. I also saw some faint albedo markings on the lit part of Venus. Later in the morning I completed my trifecta by observing the sun with my Sunspotter Solar Telescope. There are no sunspots on the face of the sun today.
Mars (Planet, est. mag .3, est. to be in Taurus)
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 Aug 27 06:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1702
Early this morning I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The waxing gibbous phase on Mars is about 75%. While the dust storm has weakened slightly the yellow color caused by the dust storm is still very obvious. Aldebaran next to Mars has a more orangy look to it. Through the dust I can barely make out hints of Mars' dark regions. Anyone with even the naked eye can check to see if the dust storm is weakening my comparing the color of Mars with the color of Aldebaran.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.2, est. to be in Ophiuchus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: severe Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Aug 26 01:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1701
This evening my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed Jupiter with Steve's 10" Dob. The South Equitorial Belt is still very difficult to see. However, the South Temperate Belt was easily seen through our scope. Both the North and South Polar Hoods seemed to be fading because Jupiter is receding from the Earth. Finally, all four of Jupiter's moons showed their discs nicely.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.3, est. to be in Ophiuchus, Est. RaDec 30)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jul 31 15:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1687
First light with my new XT10 captured a transit of Europa crossing Jupiter's disk. The new scope reaches magnitude 15. Though the humidity and skyglow hamper my view in this area, condierable more detail was noticeable on Jupiter. I have posted pics on my website.
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