Hello Mars Observers,
Had another night of exceptional seeing with magnification up to 467X using a 3mm eyepiece in a 1.8X barlow. (scope 130mm, f/6). Had to double check my figures since this is so extraordinarily high.
By the time the scope cooled down, Solis Lacus was no longer in view. However, able to clearly see a "V" like wedge between Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium based on the Mars Previewer II program. The thing looked like an alligator to me. I also saw a light striation under them which I believe is Electris. (3:30 am PDT) Please let me know if I misidentified anything. Only at super high magnification was I able to see the Southern Pole. The Northern Pole had a small but distinct blue cap. Not able to detect anything in the lighter sections of Mars which was about 66.7% of what I saw.
As for brightness and glare, I tried a few light orange filters. But as I started to use extremely short focal length eyepieces, I found I didn't need them.
Since the seeing was so good, I decided to try out a technique I read about on Astromart. This involves keeping both eyes open when looking through a solitary eyepiece and is suppose to increase a sense of contrast when viewing planets under high magnification. I normally use an eye patch. Surprise! Indeed, I did see more contrast! Here's the link to the posting:
http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=377292&poll_id=&news_id=&page=
Clear Skies,
Darlene
Had another night of exceptional seeing with magnification up to 467X using a 3mm eyepiece in a 1.8X barlow. (scope 130mm, f/6). Had to double check my figures since this is so extraordinarily high.
By the time the scope cooled down, Solis Lacus was no longer in view. However, able to clearly see a "V" like wedge between Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium based on the Mars Previewer II program. The thing looked like an alligator to me. I also saw a light striation under them which I believe is Electris. (3:30 am PDT) Please let me know if I misidentified anything. Only at super high magnification was I able to see the Southern Pole. The Northern Pole had a small but distinct blue cap. Not able to detect anything in the lighter sections of Mars which was about 66.7% of what I saw.
As for brightness and glare, I tried a few light orange filters. But as I started to use extremely short focal length eyepieces, I found I didn't need them.
Since the seeing was so good, I decided to try out a technique I read about on Astromart. This involves keeping both eyes open when looking through a solitary eyepiece and is suppose to increase a sense of contrast when viewing planets under high magnification. I normally use an eye patch. Surprise! Indeed, I did see more contrast! Here's the link to the posting:
http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=377292&poll_id=&news_id=&page=
Clear Skies,
Darlene
