Mars dust storm clearing?

[MortonH]

Mars seems distinctly redder tonight and the surface markings are a bit easier to make out. Is the dust finally starting to settle?

[The Mekon]

Moreton, conditions where I am have not been good of late, despite clear skies (see my other post). However I put Mars up to 450x on Sunday night and suspected there was a little more detail. showing on the surface. Maybe wishful thinking, but you could be right.

[Tropo-Bob]

I had a peep tonight with an 80mm scope. The Dust Storm still looks to be raging. I only saw vague hints of detail behind the orange wipe-out.

[MortonH]

On my way home now and Mars looks paler than ever. Damn.

[Andrew C]

Just wondering if there has been any noticeable settling of the dust, and whether it's worth getting the scope out tonight?

[The Mekon]

Nothing visible at 230X last night. Halos around every star, and rotten seeing, yet not a cloud in the sky. This drought with clear skies is not doing any favours to astronomers.

[Startrek]

Dragged my 10” dob out last night down the south coast around 7.00pm and had about 4 hours of great seeing until the wind started up

A nice view of a crescent moon near Venus until it vanished behind the mountain range
Saturn and Jupiter up nice and high near the zenith were super clear through my 8mm Ethos ,13mm Ethos, and 6mm Delos
Mars a bit ordinary
Great views of M10 , M8, M22, M4 etc.. through the 13mm ethos ,21mm Ethos and 17.3mm Delos

Can’t complain

Bush fires pretty serious down here , smoke everywhere today , hope everyone is ok and no property loss.

The NSW rural fire teams, locals and volunteers are doing a mammoth job !!

[Andrew C]

Thanks folks. I did take the scope (12" dob) out, but seeing was poor, and only a suggestion of the polar ice caps - not really worth the trouble.

[dpastern]

Dust storm is definitely starting to settle - I could see no real details around opposition, but can now see subtle darker details. Still haven't spotted the PCs. Pretty sure I spotted Hellas though (was near the limb, starting to rotate out of view).

Haven't had the scope out for the past week (bad lower back, too many nights with the dob really make me pay for it later) .

I've been doing most of my observing with a TMB 6mm (original, not clone). My Fujiyama 6mm is a tiny bit sharper and slightly better contrast, but the smaller AFOV and eye relief make the TMB preferred to me.