(SNES) Mars

["Les Coleman" <les11@cox.net>]

Hi

I've been futilely trying to get a really good look at Mars this summer. When it hasn't
been raining,  it has been too hazy or the sky has been too bright or ... or ... or... ad
nauseum. Tonight it was a complete joy to be outside with my Questar doing what this small
instrument was specifically designed to do best - long focal length viewing through a set
of eyepieces specifically designed for these long local lengths. I operated at f14 and f29
and even f18 tonight. The Questar makes changing easy with the flip of a few small levers
for the first two, but requires a change of portal for the f18 focal length. F18 is at an
awkward angle for viewing so I gave it up as a bad job. I tried most of my eyepieces and my
built in Barlow. I spent most of my time using eyepieces of 16mm (81x), 12mm (108x), 8mm
(103x) and crowding my luck 6mm (173x). I even tried my 24mm eyepiece which produced a
crisp image but the disk was too small to make out spaces between details.

Down below Mars was a bright star that I don't often see - Fomalhut in Piscis Austraini.
Even through it was very low to the
horizon, it was rock steady. I briefly looked at it with the Questar and it presented a
crisp set of Airy rings rather than a dancing blob. Seeing was magnificently steady. There
was no rain,  a dry front had gone through earlier and the air was dry,
the sky was bright but my treasured dark corner of the garden was sheltered from all
neighborhood lights and ... and ... ad nauseum. I could easily see 5th magnitude stars and
could glimpse those down to 5.5. (In Westerly any attempt at 6.0 or laughably 6.6 by eye is
doomed).

Mars was great. I could easily see the Southern Polar Cap. It was a big white hump on the
southern part of the planet. Above it, to the right as the eyepieces presented the view and
always visible was Mare Tyrrheneum. Mare Sirenum  was sometimes visible and sometimes it
faded. The great plain of Mesogaea was visible but simply as a tan area in contrast to the
darker (or white) areas mentioned before. I think I may have seen Zen Lacus, but since it
is light in color and near the SPC,
it is hard to keep your eye on it. You may wonder where the other great features of Mars
were - well they were on the other side of the planet. I didn't wake up until 2:45 and only
viewed until 4:15  when a combination of dawn's early light and waking mosquitoes (which
fill me with dread after multiple bug-bite diseases) drove me in.

Best viewing was generally at 108x or 130x. I could see stuff at 173x but contrast
suffered. 81x and 54x simply weren't enough, although they were bright and clean.

Very satisfying. Easily the best view I've had of Mars in my Questar in at least a decade
although larger apatures have given me slightly superior views. Hooray!

Les Coleman
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