Mars Perihelion - Old Sketches from 2003.

[overlord]

The reason I had to hurry and get a scope in 2003 was for the perihelic conjunction of Mars, so these are some old sketches:

Made with an 8" Dobby f/5, my eyes and brain. ;)


http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars1.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars2.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars3.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars4.jpg

CANALS! I started to see canals late in the observational season. The traditional explanation is because the trees are turning green. I think it's cos there is some condensation on the mountains or something.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars5.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars8.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/mars7.jpg

The whole planet with a little of my own nomenclature:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/flaminglovepotion/MarsMap2003.jpg

No embed? maybe i need to upload

[Suzy]

You are having loads of fun with sketching I see Chucky. :thumbsup: I looked through every single one of them.:)
By the way, what magnification did you use for those sketches? I'm perplexed you could see that much detail at a planet only 25 arc seconds in dia.at the time in 2003 (not much bigger than Saturn at the moment at 19").
You must have great eyes. ;) Tho, alas I had no scope at that time to view those wonderful canals you sketched so beautifully.:shrug:
Thanks for sharing.

[overlord]

awwwwwwwwwwwwww, thanks! that means a lot to me! U are so nice!

Yeah I had always wanted a scope. I walked into York Optical in about 1992 I think, and we was like :eyepop: so It wasn't till about 2003 I heard about the Mars thing and I started researching and discovered this 'new' Dobsonian thing which made telescopes so much cheaper and I was :eyepop: that the scope was only 800 or so for an 8".

Ah several things in relation to viewing and technique:

1) The traditional 'wave of darkening', I believe allows for greater detail to be seen later in the observing season. Around the time of Opposition on 27th August, I really couldn't see that much at all, but I learned to observe better, and I think that 'wave of darkening' helped considerably. The Martian features simply became more noticeable as the disk started to recede.

2) I have a special technique where if I 'think' I've seen something, I mark it in. If it shows up in other diagrams, I put it on the big map. If not, that feature is discarded.

3) Over time as I learned the features of the disk better, I learned what was there and what was just imagination. The mind learns what is expected, and it's a lot easier for it to 'see' with more practice, just like it's easier to read the alphabet faster when you know the letters better I guess.

My overall map of Mars, of which I am very proud. The 'canal' shading is exaggerated. It was a considerably fainter than that, and not visible at all for most of the time when Mars was larger. It is so mysterious! I only saw them when Mars was going away and getting small. Ah well. Eventually it got so small I gave up. I checked a month later and I was shocked at how small the disk had become and how small those features had become as well!

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=93768&stc=1&d=1305092278

Also I made a blog about this project I did. I hope this link is ok, and it's got a crosslink back to this forum, hehehe :D

http://nibiru-info.blogspot.com/2011/05/observing-canals-on-mars.html

:thanx: :thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

I am soooo embarassed I've only just come across this thread, :ashamed:

Chucky, this work is just amazing! There are just so much love put into these sketches. Goodness knows how many hours you spent at the eyepiece.

I like the techniques you've described. "if you think you see something, put it down. You can always confirm or remove it later". Excellent idea as this can be applied to all sketching. With really faint DSO's, or even a bright GC, many details come and go according to the preveiling conditions. On many occasions I've found myself in a similar situation where concentrating on a certian feature, my eye's have picked up something else, and I stubbornly insisted on what I had been looking at and lost that glimpsed detail, :mad2:.

Hat's off you your work!

Alex.