Mars

[kosta_781]

How can I get the best views of mars in terms of viewing detail? What kind of eyepiece should I get for my dob 8 in order to achieve this? Or is it a far fetched possability? Thanks.

[Rigel003]

Mars is a tough target at the moment with an angular diameter of only about 5 arc seconds and sinking low in the west early on. It won't be in opposition again until April 2014 when it will appear about three times as large as at present. You need a night of excellent seeing with steady air. Try catching it immediately after twilight before it gets too low to minimise the amount of atmosphere you're looking through. If you have good optics and a well collimated scope you could use a 5 or 6 mm eyepiece or 10 - 12mm with a 2x barlow for about 200x. The main factor in seeing detail will be a steady atmosphere, so be patient. On many nights you won't see anything but an orange blur.

[Shiraz]

further to Graeme's comments, if the 200hPa jetstream is > about 50kts, fine detail will be missing regardless of local atmospheric conditions (not a hard and fast rule, but pretty useful).
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/viewer/index.shtml?type=windbarb&level=200hPa&tz=AEDT&area=Au&model=CG&chartSubmit=Refresh+View

[Varangian]

I've ruled Mars out with my set up. I have an 8" Newtonian and am waiting for opposition in 2014. I will be using a 3.5 mm Hyperion with a neutral density filter. Cheers.

[kosta_781]

How much different would Mars look through a dob 12 rather than a dob 8 any thoughts on this?? Would there be a lot of difference between a dob 12 compared to a 8?

[ZeroID]

You might get a bigger disk but as was said before Mars is not in a good position at present so viewing would still be marginal. Low in the sky so lots of atmosphere disturbance to contend with and far away on the other side of the system.

[Liz]

The public still like looking at Mars through the scopes when set up - nice little red dot, though bigger than Uranus and Neptune. :)