At long last I got some good views of Mars tonight with my 6" refractor from my west Phoenix backyard. I got to try out my new Celestron X-Cel 2.3 mm eyepiece. It produces 522 power with the 1200 mm refractor. I was able to see great deal (greater than before at lower power) with it. During moments of atmospheric steadiness Syrtis Major was very visible and the polar cap seems to have gotten smaller still from Friday (probably my imagination). The wind was blowing the tube around a bit, but only a minor annoyance (got to put up some walls). I tried various red filters, a moon filter and no filter. Surprising, at times the moon filter seemed to work best. Other times the red seemed to help a bit and still others more could be seen with no filter. I spent a couple of hours on this and don't know why the effect. It may just be me. I have yet to get a decent digital image. Mars is not as easy an object as one might think. Totally unlike Jupiter and Saturn. While the dark sky star parties are great for the deep sky stuff (I really like them) there is nothing like being able to just walk out back for a few hours and then come back in and go to bed (after putting the scope away). Also, having a platform and adjustable chair so you can sit for hours comfortably really makes observing like this enjoyable. The joys of a backyard observatory. Alas, in Phoenix, only good for bright objects. Jeff -- Jeff Hopkins HPO SOFT ************************************************************** Phoenix, Arizona Atlanta, Georgia 7812 West Clayton Drive 12170 Boxwood Circle Phoenix, AZ 85033-2439 U.S.A. Alpharetta, GA 30005 U.S.A. (623) 849-5889 (Fax) (770) 619-3322 (Phone/Fax) www.hposoft.com dataman.home.mindspring.com 4th Dimension Developer FileMaker Pro Expert BASIC/C/C++ Programmer/Web Site Developer -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.