[AZ-Observing] Re: Mars This Morning

>Most of this morning the northern third and southern quarter of Arizona
>was cloudy, but Phoenix experienced a clear sky from horizon to horizon. 
>The dewpoint was 62F with corresponding bad transparency, but the seeing
>permitted a magnification of 350x on the red planet.
>
>The central meridian at 2:30 a.m. these days is about 15 degrees.  This
>puts Sinus Sabaeus toward the gibbous limb, and Mare Erytrhraeum near the
>center.  I have to admit that albedo features on Mars do not excite me as
>much as dynamic features such as those on Jupiter.  I am learning that
>Mars is dynamic, though.  There were no obvious clouds apparent, but the
>usual haze on the "non-gibbous" limb showed up brightly.  The South Polar
>Cap has been interesting to follow since April.  It has shrunk noticeably
>since my last time out (yikes, over a month).  An coordinate grid overlay
>sequence posted on the 'marsobserver' group shows it shrinking from a
>latitude of 60 degrees south to greater than 70 degrees south during that
>period.
>
>One part of the cap has extremely high albedo, appearing overexposed even
>to the visual observer.  Near the gibbous limb is a small gray notch in
>the cap.  This feature is saturated on every image of Mars that gets
>posted.  Speaking of images, the visual view was a refreshing change from
>a month of virtual viewing of terrific images by Grafton, Parker, Peach,
>et al.  While all of those images show striking detail, none of them
>begin to convey the experience of actually looking at Mars through the
>eyepiece.  Again, visual observing rules.
>
Tom

I too was up this AM (3- 4 ) looking at Mars with my C-8. Seeing must 
have been better for Tom as I tried several eyepieces and "ALL" my 
filters one at a time but could not do much to improve the view. The 
polar cap is still large, but as Tom mentioned,  smaller than a month 
ago. The size of the disk has increased noticeably and so has the 
brightness. I could not see any structure other than the polar cap 
(my mind was trying to tell me I was seeing something, but if it was 
indeed actually there, it was right on the threshold).

While I was in the mountains over the weekend and set up to observe 
Mars with my 6" refractor, I was teased Friday night with clear skies 
which then clouded over before Mars appeared and continued with a 
thunderstorm Saturday night.

I have become spoiled in Arizona. I'm originally from upstate NY and 
recall the wonderment in finding a clear night once every few months. 
In AZ except during July and August, most nights are clear and I tend 
to take clear nights for granted. Since I have gotten my 6" refractor 
I think I have put a curse on the sky. I think it may be fall before 
I really get to use it on Mars.

Jeff

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