Posts Made By: Sol Robbins

Attached is this morning's Mars sketch.

Solis Lacus & Tithonius Lacus straddled the CM. I am not quite sure of the geographic name, (Xanthe & Niliacus Lacus?), was prominent in the north believe NPR haze is still reducing in size. Limb haze looked very narrow this time around.

Brightening in the Martian plains seemed more apparent in Chryse and the sunrise portion of the Amazonis region.

Since Mars' apparent size is larger, it seems that I am now detecting a grainy texture on the planet's surface at moments of best seeing. This was noticeable in Argyre, Pyrhale Regio & just north of the Phaethontis region. Now I'll have to figure out a way to reproduce this in sketched observations.

Thanks, Sol Robbins

Hi,

Got to test the "Mars 2003" filter from Sirius Optics. My initial impression is that its most directly comparable to my orange Wratten filter. Still the Mars filter showed more detail in "breaking" the darker albedo features. Additionally, limb brightening was white while the polar cap had a magenta tint. The downside was less contrast regarding the Polar Cap & it was a bit more difficult to achieve best focus with the Mars filter as compared to the orange Wratten.

Right now I believe the VFS to be far and away the best on Mars. Settings of 220 and 190 show best detail. Setting of 135 shows most detail with most natural looking color.

Thanks,

Sol Robbins

Hi,

I spent quite a while fiddling with different filters this morning on Mars. I used Wrattens 58 green, 21 orange, 80a blue, 12 yellow and the Mars filter with its overall color mix presenting a magenta tint.

First, I have to say that I have a greater respect for Carlos. I can see that he has mastered the integration of the various views that several filters can provide all in one drawing.

I settled on using a 311x for comparison. IMO, I liked the presentation of details using the Wr. blue, orange and the Mars filters best.

The orange appeared to give the sharpest views probably owing to its decreasing of atmospheric seeing and great separation of the polar cap while bumping up albedo contrast a bit.

I really liked the 80a's ability to show various brightenings in Mars' atmosphere while also bumping up albedo features.

The Mars filter appeared to show the best of both the filters. Polar Cap separation was a bit less than the previous filtered views. Darker albedo features were a bit improved with a better break with features similar to Argyre. Atmosphere features were less than the 80a, but better than the 21. The Mars filter is more sensitive to atmospheric seeing and refraction.

After about 2 hours of comparative viewing I still believe the 4 settings in the Variable Filter beat the other filters except the 80a's ability to show various brightenings; this feature that I'm referring to is depicted very well in the white areas of any of Carlos' sketches.

Hope that helps, Sol Robbins

Hi,

I had very good seeing conditions for Mars this morning. Image held like a rock up to stupidly high powers- 487x and 545x.

The receding Southern Polar Cap showed an irregular edge. The small bulge was brighter than the rest of the cap as well as what seemed to be a dark line running half way through it. Syrtis Major showed as one of the darker regions, darker than I remember seeing it in previous observations. These were by far the most prominent features.

Many other features appear south, top in this drawing, of Mare Sirenum and Meridani Sinus, but I am not up on the names at the moment and have not consulted a map as of yet.

I also used the new Mars 2003 filter at powers up to 375x. Image contrast was pretty good.

Sol Robbins

Hi,

After 2 1/2 weeks of clouds, I finally got a clear and steady night. Mars showed a lot of detail with a lot a break up in the darker albedo features. SPC was notched with the preceding edge being brighter.

My 10" reflector is almost finished. Star test was nearly null. Just some small balancing issues left to resolve.

Thanks, Sol Robbins

Hi,

This Mars opposition is certainly been one of the best I've witnessed.

The sketch shows the usual stuff that I can pick up on. What made this observation different was a heightened salmon colored preceding limb. This appears to be getting more and dust laden through the time this opposition started.

Sol Robbins

Hi,

Mars presented a lot of detail that was even evident to some neighbors who got a first time view of the red planet.

This has been a great opposition.

Sol Robbins

Hi,

This opposition is getting somewhat addictive.

I figured I'd get some sketch time in as the next 4-5 days has clouds forecasted.

Sol Robbins

Hi,

I once again had that "hole" in the atmosphere. My 6" refractor and 10" Dob showed very steady Mars images. I made a sketch through the eq driven refractor rather early on. Then I spent the next 3 hours using the Dob. This apparition has been very rewarding and enjoyable for me. Hype aside, I think its the best I have ever seen Mars.

Thanks, Sol Robbins

Hi,

It seemed that there was a brightish area just southwest of the SPC. Since I am not very well acquainted with Mars features, my guess that this is between Thyle I & Phaethontis.

Thanks, Sol Robbins