Viewing mars in a 10" Dob

[Stuart78 (Stuart)]

Hi i am just wondering how mars would look through a 10"dob can you see any detail?? i won't get a chance to look for about 3 weeks and am just curious..

[Davekyn (David)]

I once saw the polar caps with an old 60mm Tasco refractor, but that was in 2003 when it was as close to earth as it has ever been. (at least for my existance) I just saw mars recently through my 12” DOB and it’s never looked that same as it did back then. Through my 12” Dob it comes across as pretty small and when I up the Magnification it starts to look fairly blurred out/motley and so forth. Don’t expect much & you will be better rewarded at medium powers with a nice red crisper looking sphere. This may very well be where I am better to spend more money on a better eye pieces, but given my DOB with its fast focal ratio of F5 makes looking at such planets somewhat inferior to a refractor with a higher F/R or simply a scope purpose built for planetary observation.
Best thing to do, is pick a time when it will be at its highest point, closest to earth (not sure…one point every 2 years?) and seeing conditions are GOOD!!!/collimate your scope on site as best you can & use the best eye piece/combo you have for the job, keeping in mind that sometimes with our DOBs its best to back of the magnification and use an EP with a larger f/r… We can still get good views at planets, however we can’t do it is often or as crisp as planet purpose built scopes; which is what Mars really needs. If anyone else could give more tips…please do so! I would love to see more of Mars. To be honest, I have not really tried or planed hard enough with Mars or been lucky enough to have had all the right variables in place for my scope.
I'm sure with some persistance you will enjoy seeing more each time you observe.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Seeing is King when it come to viewing the planets.
On a good night, using your 10", you will be able to make out the polar cap and the smudgy outline of features such as Syrtis Major.
It helps to have a map on hand to identify what you see.
http://www.guidescope.net/solarsys/mars_map.htm
But they can be obscured by clouds (LOL, I'm such a Floyd freak) of dust.

[Davekyn (David)]

Sounds encouraging Jeanette, can't wait till the weather clears in the early hours of the morning. Will give it a try with my 12" Are we suppose to see it like that at the link? (Derr...just remembered you mention dust storms...I'll blame them too!) If so something is definitely wrong with my setup or I'm just unlucky with crap seeing all the time...doh!

Actually could would someone be kind enough with a 10 or 12" Dob to do an observation report on Mars telling what ep's used and so forth. I've been driving out of town the last couple of mornings trying for the Horse Head Nebula and MARS but as I say...crap seeing with too much moisture.

[ngcles]

Hi Stuart,

This question was raised a couple of weeks ago in the Observational Astronomy section of IIS and there is a thread here which you might find helpful:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=52646

Mars disappoints much more often than it thrills visual observers ...


Best,

Les D

[Stuart78 (Stuart)]

Thanks for the info guys, i will try have a look when i get the chance, i only had a crappy dept store scope back in 2003 when mars was so close and it just looked like a big orange blob, i still remember looking at it back then with the naked eye, it was such a beautifull site in the sky...