Re: faliure so far trying to see mars

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:30:29 +0000, Pete Lawrence
<pete.lawrence@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:10:18 +0000, Clive <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>wrote:
>
>>i live near the coast and the last few nights i have been trying to
>>get a good view of mars, went out last night and had clear sky so i
>>setup the scope and all i got was a fuzzy white ball with maybe a hint
>>of surface detail but nothing half decent. it wasnt till i used a
>>torch i saw what was maybe the problem, although the sky looked clear
>>the beam from the torch when pointed to the sky looked like it was
>>going through a really thick fog so i guess thats what ruined my view.
>>anyone else had any luck viewing mars or are you suffering the same
>>problem as me
>
>You're view is probably what you should be seeing. What sort of
>telescope are you using? If it's an SCT or a reflector, is it
>collimated? Have you allowed enough time for the scope to cool. A
>couple of hours outside in the dark will normally sort that issue out
>but even then it can vary depending on the type of scope and the
>temperature it's been brought out from.
>
>What time did you make your attempt? If it was early, the light from
>Mars would have been coming through a thick layer of wobbly atmosphere
>- made even wose if you are viewing it above a heat source.
>
>Were your optics dew/frost(!) free? If not, a 12V hairdryer will sort
>them out on the beach.
>
>Visually, you really need a medium to large scope to get much out of
>Mars. A small scope will show some surface markings and perhaps a
>polar cap or two (the North Polar Hood should be visible but the South
>Polar Cap is currently tiny). Images may give expectations of seeing
>things that you just won't pick up visually. I showed someone one of
>my webcam AVIs that lead to a reasonable finished image recently. They
>were gobsmacked that processing techniques have advanced so much that
>they can pull such detail ouf from that wobbly little disk.


Im using an 8inch SCT, i checked the collimation and left it outside
for a few hrs before i tried, i will have another go tonight
.

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