Mars was approaching culmination at the time. Stability 6/10 with occasional clouds obscuring the planet. Sketch from 11:45pm to 12:10am.
Found that some aversion helped bring out additional low contrast detail.
Done at the 210x (15mm + 1.8x shorty barlow) with 150mm MCT Argo loaded with a medium red filter. Time 10:20 PDST. Features Syrtis Major (rotating out to celestrial west) and a honking Sinus Sabaeus (along the CM). Note the hints of raylike projections out of Mare Serpentis. Very low contrast so SP Hood remains in evidence. Notice also how low contrast Mare Erythraeum is when foreshortened as it it rotates in from the celestrial east.
Main feature Syrtis Major capped by Zen Lacus. Rotating in from celestrial east is Sinus Sabaeus and Mare Serpentis. To the west, hints of Syrtis Minor, Mare Thyrrenium and Tritonius Sinus.
Mare Australe rather lacked its usual contrast surrounding the SPC.
New stuff: Euripus I to the celestrial west and Mare Amphitrites (to east) ensconcing Zen Lacus.
Would have liked a better view of Syrtis Minor than the one depicted - which is almost overstated in terms of presence.
Some features: Syrtis Major rotating in from the celestrial east. Zen Lacus to the south. Euripus I embracing Zen Lacus to the west. Syrtis Minor leading into Mare Tyrrhenium. Hesperia is the lighter zone separating Tyyrhenium & Tritonius Sinus. Mare Cimmerium angling up to the celestrial west. Eridania is the brighter region to the southeast.
Takes pretty good seeing to make out the Hyblaeus Extension (to the celestrial northwest).
Also some interesting darkenings that I can not find on Mars Previewer - up near Eridania (possibly Mare Chronium) and east of the Hyblaeus Extension (Utopia?). Real stuff - but hard to be sure.
Best look yet at the Mare Tyrhenium / Cimmerium regions...
One thing of especial not: Although I could make out the Deltoton Sinus "bump" sticking out of the southeastern (celestrial) flank of Syrtis Major, was unable to resolve it as a pair of separate "bumps" as in Sol's sketches. I hope to pay more attention to this region in the future.
Done through 150mm MCT Argo with 15mm / 1.8x barlow configuration. Show Thread
So through 150mm MCT Argo and 7/10 skies at 180x caught this less than satisfactory view of the Cimmerium, Sirnum and Chronium (E-W). Not much of an SPC left - gone to gas presumably) nor is the Mare Australis region very contrasty.
Admittedly, not your most feature-packed sketch.
Sketch made at 210x using 15mm ultrascopic with 1.8x shorty barlow and medium red filter. Features (left to right): Mares Cimmerium & Sirenum, and Solis Lacus. Paralleling Mare Sirenum and Solis Lacus to the south is Mare Chronium. The basin Argyre I can be seen to the south-southwest. A very satisfying hemisphere of Mars with even more in the offing.
Caught an look at the Moon before viewing Mars. Using 210x and same red filter unable to catch a single craterlet in Plato -so seeing at low Moon level at best 6/10. Mars a bit higher in the sky but not any better. Following sketch shows Mare Erythraeum rotating off CM.
Features this 9:00 PDST view: Chryse, Mare Erythraeum, Argyre I, Mare Australis and SPC approximating the central meridian. No hints of Solis Lacus to the east or confirmation of Sinus Sabaeus to the west. However the dark triangle to the west may very well have been Sinus Sabaeus except it was not cleanly separated from Vulcani Pelagus region above it.
Much better. E-W Aonius Sinus, Bosporus Gemmatus, Protei Regio, Mare Erythraeum with hints of a detached Sinus Sabaeus. Meanwhile caught two "islands" floating off the eastern coast of M Erythraeum - Solis Lacus and an unidentified projection to the northwest. From the Previewer version you can see that these islands are really peninsular so resolution not especially good.
Meanwhile Chryse, Pyrrhae Regio and Argyre I are the bright regions plus some shading seen of a possible detached Sinus Sabaeus rotating stage west plus Niliacus Lacus region north of Chryse possible.
Much more satisfying.
Well, shall we take a look and see?
Not too shabby, Erythraeum right where you'd expect - framed by Chryse to the north and capped by Argyre I to the south - but no real hint of the fainter Pyrrhae Regio (south and slightly east of the brightish Argyre I).
Shifting west definitely able to distinguish Sinus Meridiani from Erythraeum - but less luck with Sinus Sabaeus along the same peninsula further west.
Happily though, Solis Lacus could be picked out as an island east of Protei Regio - even hints of an isthmus connecting the two.
Altogether pretty decent for a 6/10 stability occasion - but I must admit under such circumstances am having to use a bit of averted vision to catch some of the low contrast stuff - like that isthmus.
Sketch done at the 210x 15mm / 1.8x eyepiece-barlow combo. Red filter employed. Show Thread
By 8:00 Mars had cleared the tree to the southeast. Seeing some 40 degrees above the horizon was not that of overhead - still quite tidy - say 6/10. This didn't seem to last though, by the time I began sketching in earnest started losing edge focus. However things did recover and there were times when Sinus Sabaeus cleanly distinguished itself from Mare Erythraeum. Meanwhile Zen Lacus shown in almost perfect contrast north of an imperceptible Syrtis Major - rotating out the the celestrial west.
Hopefully, I'll post at least one more sketch from this evening. A nice face on view of Mare Erythraeum is in the offing and as Mars continues toward culmination sky stability should continue to wax.
Like most sketches in this series done at the eyepiece of 150mm MCT Argo at 210x using a red filter.
Exiting west is Syrtis Major capped by Zen Lacus. Unfortunately seeing not good enough to distinguish Sinus Sabaeus from Noachis. (These run mostly in parallel east of Mare Serpentis which is east of southern Syrtis Major.) Hellespontus, however could be picked up radiating celestially to the east of the SPC from Mare Serpentis. The SPC was visible but not well defined. Had trouble detecting Mare Australis ringing it.
Sketch done at 21:45 PDST from the eyepiece of 150mm MCT Argo at 210x (15mm Ultra plus 1.8x shorty barlow and medium red filter.
The sky seemed especially still tonight and quite dark. Early on made a quick check of Vega - superb stability. Fresnel pattern very steady.
Could this be the night for that consummate Mars view??
Nope. Stability down low waivered between 5 and 7/10. Not sure why I bothered to sketch since I had done one last eve -but the hour was earlier and Syrtis Major dominated the central meridian.
Some odd stuff...
Zen Lacus was very low contrast. Expected it to be much brighter - based on the brilliance it showed when closer to the limb.
Also kept seeing a bright spot celestially east of Ol' Zen - but it does not appear on the Mars Previewer chart accompanying the sketch.
NOTE: I took a look at Mars again later this evening after S. Major had rotated off the CM. Under similar seeing, Zen Lacus was visibly more distinctive and incorporated the bright spot included in this sketch. Also noticed that Zen Lacus is visibly offset to the celestrial east from directly aligned with S Major - something that I really hadn't noticed before.
Some interesting stuff - even with Sinus Sabaeus just rotating in from the east was able to get a sense of distinction between it, Noachis and Hellespontus. Interesting because Sabaeus has been tougher when better presented under similar seeing.
Hmmm...
(Sketch done at 20:30 PDST from the eyepiece of 150mm MCT Argo at 210x - 15mm Ultra plus 1.8x shorty barlow and medium red filter).
Very solid 7/10 seeing stability this evening for Mars. Taking advantage I did two sketches one at 8:00 and the other - with Mars approaching culmination - at 9:15 PDST.
Able to bump magnifications up to 260x for the first sketch. Stretched that to 325 for the second. At the higher magnifications the yellow filter was handy - not only for passing a bit more light - but also improved the distinction between Mare Tyrrhenum and Tritonius Sinus (rotating out to west).
Top sketch at 260x with red filter. Bottom sketch at 325x with yellow filter.
Was a real pleasure to see Mars at decent image scale again.
Attended the SCAC star party last nite at Bonny Doon Airport. Deepsky a bit of a wash due to broken clouds - but the clouds moved slowly - meaning very good seeing stability (7+/10).
Argo gave a very decent view of Mars with Syrtis Minor on the central meridian. Was able to do the following sketch at 350x (10mm Ultrascopic with 1.8x shorty barlow). Club president Dwight had a bunch of filters on hand. Between his 8 inch SCT and 6 inch MCT Argo we tried just about all of them. Out of the bunch medium orange gave the best views - easily resolving details only hinted at with other colors - so you know what I want for Christmas (2004!).
Oh yah - one thing of note - I have been consistently seeing the tip of the Mare Cimmerium- Hesperia - Tritonis Sinus oblique (exciting Mars stage west) well distant from Syrtis Minor - as opposed to how it appears in the Mars Previewer comparo. I can only assume that the tip - Tritonus Sinus - is not really resolvable at this time through Argo. Otherwise I am just not seeing Syrtis Minor correctly...
Currently, Mars is showing me perhaps its least satisfying face. Unlike the continent-like Syrtis Major and Mare Erythraeum regions, the Hesperia region is very "horizontal". This horizontality is echoed by Mare Chronium to the south and west and again echoed by the remaining eastern extension of Mare Australis and on the other pole of the planet a faint Mare Borealis.
Shades of the Gas Giants perhaps?
Meanwhile, I continue having difficulties resolving Tritonius Sinus from Mare Tyrrhenium to the south and Syrtis Minor to the east.
Sketch done using the 350x 10mm 1.8x shorty barlow plus yellow filter combo through 150mm MCT Argo and 6+/10 stability skies.
Last night decided to make a run on Mars sans filter and at my highest magnification. Once again the region of interest was Tritonius Sinus, Mare Tyrrhenium and Syrtis Minor. Stability varied widely - from less than 5 to almost 8/10 - this over a cycle lasting several seconds in length.
In reflecting on this phenomenon - while patiently awaiting the emergence of detail - I pretty much concluded that I have been merging the concept of "stability" with that of "clarity" over the last few years of observing. Last night stability was poor but there were moments of exceptional clarity when I almost actually believed that 6 inch Argo could throw up as much detail as Sol's 6 inch unobstructed refractor - but more importantly - that my occipital lobes could almost handle as much detail as Sol's!
Nah...
Anyway, sketch done at the 10mm Ultrascopic-1.8 shorty barlow combination sans filter.
Oh yah, when those few seconds of real clarity were in evidence colors on Mars stood out quite engagingly. The Maria took on a deep green appearance, while the deserts displayed "mellon orange" cast. It was also much easier to make out the laci. And celestrially western limb haze gave that shimmering "morning on Mars" lustre.
Mars now approaches a mere 15 arcsecs in apparent size and has lost more than 10 percent of its globe to phase. Unless I get a really excellent night of seeing in the next few days this will be my last sketch for the 2003 apparition.
The sketch below was done without a filter at some 360x. Seeing stability ranged from 5 to 7/10. When clearest, Mars displayed a decent amount of color. At such moments, I began to get a good sense of how maria distributed throughout the southern hemisphere.
Regions apparent (south to north) The SPC, Mare Cronium, Phaethontis, and Mare Sirenum. East of Sirenum is Mare Cimmerium and to the west - Solis Lacus. Above (south of) Mare Cimmerium is the bright Eridania.