The MARTIAN drought has broken! - Mars 21 Jan

[Robert_T]

Hi All, well it's not my best, but a long way from my worst as well. Seeing was really quite poor, no better than 4/10, so I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Syrtis Major down the left side and sinus sabeus/meridani stretching off to the right. This was taken with my Mewlon 180 and the 4x Powermate.

cheers,

[asimov]

Nice one!

It cleared of clouds here too with the mandatory minus 50 seeing conditions.

[davidpretorius]

i believe i will have to wait till next time around!!!

bugga, i would love to get great images like this!

well done

[iceman]

I'm surprised your still imaging that tiny thing Robert, credit to you just for that!

I had a look at Mars through the eyepiece last night for the first time in about a month, and it not much more than a red star now! :)

You're getting good image scale for such a small object now, and revealing detail still. Nice work.

[Dennis]

Hi Robert

That is an excellent image, surpassing all expectations for such a small disc with poor seeing. I was out last night and as the seeing was quite poor, (start confession) I just did some eyeballing - it was quite an amazing experience to actually look through an eyepiece after such a long time!!!

Maybe these dobbers do have a point with their visual experiences...hmm.

Cheers

Dennis

[asimov]

What!? Actually looking thru an eyepiece? A foreign concept to me these days. :-)

[Robert_T]

Thanks Guys,




Dennis - wash your mouth out... you know if you look at these things direct it'll burn out your retinas. IMAGE is everything...:lol:

OK, maybe a quick peek is OK, but look away quickly lest you fall the temptations of the light side :P

[asimov]

I see the imaging target in the finder, that's usually good enough for me.

[rumples riot]

Hey Robert you still getting detail. Must be getting very small now. Well done.

[Robert_T]

Yup Rumples, just 9arc seconds at the moment, down to 8 by around the 10th of Feb and 7 by end Feb... will need some 10 out of 10 seeing and I'll stack the 4x and 2,5 x powermates and see what happens ;)

[rumples riot]

Your're braver than I am. My policy is that once it is past the meridian at Sunset then that planet will have to wait till next year. This means that by about July this year I will have nothing to image until next year. Lots of sleep and plenty of socialising with my friends. Perhaps even a trip over to see Gary in August.

[Robert_T]

reckon I'd be wasting my time too, but what the hey... my policy is set by trees, I have about 30-40 deg slot straight up and to the south so I keep imaging while I can fit things in that slot (that's why I haven't got onto Joops yet). Reckon I can keep going with Mars for another month as night will be falling slightly earlier - have a 1/2 hour window or so of darkness before it slipps behind the leaves :)

[rumples riot]

Yes well Jupiter is slowly rising earlier and earlier. Long way to go before opposition this year. When it starts to get higher I will start to image.

[ving]

you still getting detail out of that little blob robert!!!!