[AZ-Observing] Phobos and Deimos plain as day, Olympus Mons and the SPC
- From: "Frank Kraljic" <FJKraljic@xxxxxxx>
- To: "AZ Observing List" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,<marsobservers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 01:19:21 -0700
By some stroke of luck I suppose, Phobos and Deimos were at greatest eastern
elongation roughly 12:30am (7:30UT). Both moons popped out visually moving
the planet just outside the field of view at 560x. I quickly created an
occulting bar for both my 17mm and 12mm Plossls and found I could see both
moons plain as day without the aid of the occulting bar and the planet in
full sight. Phobos, by 7:45UT was well within the half diameter distance
from Mars' limb and was directly observable. I followed the moon until an
hour after greatest elongation until it disappeared in the glow. If it
weren't for some high clouds, I bet I could have followed Phobos to the limb
of the planet... maybe. 400x provided the sharpest view.
To make opposition night even more special, Olympus Mons rotated into view
on the eastern limb as a small, bright oval patch; there was a also a darker
adjacent smudge NW of it. I accomplished three of my goals for this
opposition in one night, and also managed to see detail in the Chryse area I
had only noted in pictures. Also of note, there is a fine linear extension
directed east of the SPC. Very cool.
Hope everyone else had a great experience; the clouds stayed away and the
seeing--at least in Scottsdale--was pretty good.
-FRANK
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