Re: Great night but still frustrated by Mars

I agree that you need to 'study' mars.....it is small, and the detail
is very hard to pick out.

Use colour filters - orange, red, blue, green all help you to see
different features more clearly, eg use a blue filter to see polar hood
/ cap better, orange should help you to see dark markings,
interestingly, a red filter will help settle the seeing , red light is
diffracted least of the visible spectrum.
The other thing you need to do is take a print out of a 'mars viewer'
disc for the correct observing time, and then try to pick out the
details that should be there, be careful that you actually do see them
though, and not to just think you have seen them or make them up! your
brain can do quite a lot of 'filling in the gaps' if you let it!
Dont bother trying unless the seeing is good, check it at
http://weather.unisys.com/aviation/6panel/avn_300_6panel_eur.html
You can get a link to it on damian peaches site if that doesn't work.

Use the highest magnification possible, and patiently wait at the
eyepiece for the seeing to settle for a few seconds at a time, and make
a drawing, adding the detail in bit by bit.
It usually takes me an hour to observe mars to my satisfaction

good luck :)

Chris Nuttall
ETX 125 - want to upgrade soon to some sort of all-round 8" newt, any
good ideas?

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