Mars and Saturn 18/03/2012 in Good Seeing

[HCR32 (Peter)]

Hi ppl

Well starting off the evening early mars was a bit of a wash out but by 10.30 UTC 18/03/2012 things started to change and the views where amazing. Believe it or not I’ve been in this hobby since 1994 and I have never turned a telescope towards Mars it was the first time for me. I had read so many threads that describe Mars as a somewhat featureless planet and only draws attention when it comes by closer to our planet and at the moments placements isn’t too bad. I’m not sure if I was seeing correctly but both polar caps where there and Syrtis Major to Hesperia parts of Protonilus and Deuteronilus. What I’m trying to say is that what I saw was as good as some images I’ve seen floating around forums.

Once Saturn was above the fence line I moved the scope to it and there she was in all its glory. Saturn responded well to magnification 390x was about as much as I could push with the ability to see the Cassini Division all the way around with maximum contrast and sharp edge without it being soft. Globe detail was mainly seen off the northern hemisphere.

Before people start to question the detail I saw I best let you know that the scope I used was my C14 which I got a hand mounting seeing my back is made of jelly lately. I cooled it down in my car with the air con on and placed it outside so that it can cool down in a reverse method which I was told to do by another member. I found it to be very effective seems that the scope has an easier time warming to temp rather than cooling to temp. I also used my TEC Turret for the first time and let me tell you this is one piece of equipment every visual observer needs to put on their wish list or checkout cart ASAP. Yuri has produced a great tool which creates more time at the eyepiece not looking for an eyepiece. Flick through different magnifications allows you to manage your night with seeing conditions. Visual astronomy is so much better now.

I’m not the greatest at writing detailed reviews that can keep readers interested but if you have made it this far thanks for reading, I just needed to share it with others it was a great night.

Thx

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I did not get a chance to wait for Saturn but I had a good look at Mars on the 19th.

I had been at the grand prix all day but seeing a set of Bobs Knobs had turned up for my scope and I wanted to set them up (In a C9.25, I tried the suggested one screw at a time method to fit them but it was a bust, as soon as I removed an original one the mirror flopped around in the tube and I had to remove the secondary to be able to get the new one in thankfully with the trifid secondary, removing it is easy) That meant that my collimation was a complete guess. Oddly enough, my complete guess with the secondary sitting on the bench was better than I have had it before when tring it in the dark and a tiny tweak saw it pretty much spot on! Nice crisp star images that were tighter than I have had since I bought the scope.

Seeing it was there to be observed, I turned it on Mars and saw some actual detail for the first time, just a hint of ice cap and some very obvious shading across the disc. Can't wait for a night when I can turn it on Saturn for an extended look, and maybe have a crack at mars when it is a bit higher in the sky.