We finally have good weather again, so last night I planned out another observing session with my new TV-102. I decided to aim for 3:00 a.m. EDT (7:00 UT), since that would let me see several distinctive features on Mars at once.
I made a significant improvement in the stability of my EQ mount last night as well. Instead of a single counterweight right at the end of the shaft (which had balanced it perfectly, but apparently vibrated like a tuning fork), I added another smaller weight and pushed both weights closer to the head. While this puts more of a load on the bearings (and on my back as I haul the setup around my yard), it turns out to be MUCH more stable and enjoyable.
I got outside around 2:40 a.m., and spent a little time scanning the southern Milky Way with a 16mm Nagler while waiting for the scope to cool down a bit. I also visited M57, which caught my attention because it was directly overhead. At 3:00, I settled in to view & sketch Mars--and what a view it was!
This was one of those nights when I tell myself, “Now THIS is worth all the money I’ve spent on this hobby!” It was my best view of Mars ever. The seeing was excellent, and the planet looked like a little photo hanging in front of my scope. Syrtis Major was just rolling into the shadow of the darkened western limb, while Hellas was clearly visible as a light, roughly circular patch below it (i.e. to the South). Sinus Sabaeus was as sharply defined as in some of the CCD images I’ve seen recently on the web. Other light & dark regions (which I’ll identify later when I compare my sketches to a map) all showed clearly defined borders as well. There was the usual limb brightening to the east, and the south polar cap shown brilliant white, contrasting sharply with the peculiar dark band around it.
The rotation of the the planet (and thus the movement of its features) was obvious over the course of the hour that I spent observing and sketching. Most of the time I used a 4mm Radian at 220x, but I also enjoyed the view in my Nagler Zoom at about 260x. I tried several different filters, and found that while #21 Orange gave the best results, #23A (light red) and #80A (medium blue) were also very nice. In the end, though, I always finish with the unfiltered view, so that I can remember the true colors of the planet and its features.
If this weather keeps up, I’ll never get any sleep….
Clear, steady skies to you all,
Neil