Kris.
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/16/04
Posts: 1276
Loc: Belgium
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Hi all, i made a sketch of mars this morning under rather poor seeing conditions.
i was looking forward to sketching this side of mars with sinus sabaeus prominent in the center of the disk, but i'm a little dissapointed. it was actually a lot harder to even get a good look at sinus sabaeus (partly because of the seeing, partly i guess because of the small size of mars right now, perhaps the width of this feature is not much more than 1 arc second?) than to see other features in the few other sketches i made this opposition.
just as michael showed in his sketch a few days ago, i could not detect any sign of limb haze/brightening (perhaps the local geography of this side of mars inhibits haze forming more than other places on mars?). there was however one very bright spot at the edge, just under centre (haze or dust?). i saw this actually before i could clearly discern sinus sabaeus!
the north polar hood stood out pretty much. the south polar region also showed a slight brightening, but less than the north polar hood, and certainly much less than the bright spot at the edge.
furthermore to the left of this bright spot there was another brighter region slowly rotating out of view. perhaps this was bit of Hellas still sticking out?
the apodizing mask was used again, and i tried to put the same faint view i got as thrustfully as possibly on paper.
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Kris
To be old & wise, you first gotta be young & stupid 
8" dob
AstroTech 66ED/APO
TAL 120 newt.
my CN sketch & picture gallery
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JimPie
sage
Reged: 11/10/07
Posts: 229
Loc: S.E.Michigan
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Kris
Excellent sketch!
Mars is difficult to get a clear a view of from my location.
Ive only had good enough seeing - a hand full of times- in my 18+ years of observing to get a pretty crisp view.
Your rendering is Very realistic and does capture some detail.
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Jim
12.5",f=4.8 truss dob
EQ platform,24mm pan,14mm radian, vixen LVs
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rolandlinda3
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/24/06
Posts: 2233
Loc: Crozet VA 22932
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Good sketch to me. Having the aperture on the new Dob helps, I am sure.
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Roland
Sketches in members galleries: rolandlinda3
Inspirational stories/sketches at:
www.christworksministries.org
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Sol Robbins
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/01/03
Posts: 1609
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Excellent sketched observation!
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S.R.
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Special Ed
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/03
Posts: 4292
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Kris,
Nice work--you did a fine job of rendering the eyepiece view as you described it.
The bright area on the following limb is right where Chryse would be. It has been reported as very bright the past few days with a possible dust storm--nice catch! 
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Michael Rosolina
8" f/10 Orange Tube SCT
4.25" f/4.2 Astroscan Reflector
SVP 3.6" f/13.6 CA Reflector
40mm PST f/10
APM Germany HD 15x70 binoculars
Canon 12x36 IS II binoculars
Mark I Eyeball
My CN Gallery
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Tommy5
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/04
Posts: 1821
Loc: Chicagoland
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Very nice Mars sketch very detailed for such a small orb, congrads.
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kraterkid
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/07/05
Posts: 4548
Loc: Jacumba, California
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Kris, another of your superb micro Mars sketches! You and Michael have been doing a wonderful job documenting the tiny disc's approach as we swing closer to oposition with the Red planet. Catching that developing dust storm is very cool! 
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Rich
My CN Gallery
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 4084
Loc: Illinois
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Kris,
Wonderful report and Mars sketch.  My hat is off to those of you making these early Mars sketches. You are allowing me to get my sleep. Note: I did not say beauty sleep.
Frank 
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my gallery
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CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 4138
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Kris,
An excellent observation of Mars. You have recorded an impressive amount of detail considering it's current apparent size (6 arc-seconds). Even using the proper equipment, Mars can be a very frustrating planet to observe. That is a primary reason that in the past it was recommended that amateurs only observe Mars two weeks on either side of the opposition date. I argue that one should observe Mars as much as possible as this will train the observer to detect subtle detail over the Martian disk as well as possibly detect a dust storm far from opposition. Please keep up the excellent observations. I hope to observe Mars soon myself.
Carlos
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Kris.
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/16/04
Posts: 1276
Loc: Belgium
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thanks everyone,
this nice image from Brianb11213 in the imaging forum shows pretty well what i got to see. except the image shows detail in and around sinus sabaeus, but does not very well show the polar hood and bright south spots.
anyone know why that should be?
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Kris
To be old & wise, you first gotta be young & stupid
8" dob
AstroTech 66ED/APO
TAL 120 newt.
my CN sketch & picture gallery
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CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 4138
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Kris,
I agree that Brian's image is an excellent one, especially considering the small apparent size. I compared your observation to Brian's and labelled the major albedo features visible. I hope that you like it.
I look forward to your future observations.
Carlos
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 4084
Loc: Illinois
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Morning Mars Sketch
I was up very early in the morning observing and sketching the moon. When I finished I noticed the planet Mars was nearby old luna in the sky and since the atmosphere was producing good seeing I thought I’d have a look.
I was pleasantly surprised I could see a little more than the last time I looked so I decided to make a sketch at high power (362X). When I finished the sketch I later found I was looking at a central meridian on Mars of 36°- 40° longitude. So I was looking at: Margaritifer Terra, Chryse Planitia, Acidalia Planitia and the North polar hood regions along that longitude wedge from south to north. From my sketch you can tell I was not seeing much detail but Mars is already getting interesting with four months to go until opposition.
At 6.1" of arc and 229 million kilometers (143 million miles) away Mars remains a small target but soon it will be a regular observing target again.
Sketching:
6"x 8" sheet of white sketching paper, a set of Crayola colored pencils, clean blending stump, and plastic eraser.
Telescope : 10" f/5.7 Newtonian on a drive platform with a 4mm orthoscopic eyepiece at 362x
Weather Conditions:
Clear, humid, calm
15°C (59°F)
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 4/5
Time:
10:00-11:00 UT 9-12-2009
Location:
Oak Forest, Illinois
Frank McCabe
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my gallery
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Kris.
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/16/04
Posts: 1276
Loc: Belgium
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that's an excellent sketch Frank
i find you actually saw pretty much details on the small disk, looks like there's a lot of dust or clouds in that region. nice coloring too
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Kris
To be old & wise, you first gotta be young & stupid
8" dob
AstroTech 66ED/APO
TAL 120 newt.
my CN sketch & picture gallery
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Special Ed
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/03
Posts: 4292
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Nice grab, Frank--those are the conditions one hopes for--glad you weren't wore out from sketching Luna. Very realistic rendering. Looks like bright clouds on the morning limb, too.
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Michael Rosolina
8" f/10 Orange Tube SCT
4.25" f/4.2 Astroscan Reflector
SVP 3.6" f/13.6 CA Reflector
40mm PST f/10
APM Germany HD 15x70 binoculars
Canon 12x36 IS II binoculars
Mark I Eyeball
My CN Gallery
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Tommy5
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/04
Posts: 1821
Loc: Chicagoland
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Very nice Mars sketch,this is probably the best time of the year for us midwesterners to observe, true mars will be be much bigger later in thr year but the weather is going to get much worse, thanks for posting good detail for the tiny mars.
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 4084
Loc: Illinois
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Kris, Michael and Tommy5,
Thank you all. We have had a string of good early mornings for sketching. It does turn you into a tired person by day.
I still feel the moon is far easier to sketch. Too much eye strain with Mars this early and color adds more challenge.
Frank
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my gallery
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CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 4138
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Frank,
An excellent observation of Mars showing a good amount of detail. I am glad that you were able to note a significant amount of albedo features over a small Martian disk. I took the liberty in adjusting your image in Photoshop and I hope that you like it. I have labelled the most prominent albedo features. Thank you for sharing it with us all.
Carlos
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frank5817
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/13/06
Posts: 4084
Loc: Illinois
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Carlos,
Thank you! You really do a lot with a little. For the many years you have been sketching this planet we could call it "Carlos's Planet" and everyone would say, "Oh you mean Mars".
Frank
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my gallery
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CarlosEH
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 4138
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Frank,
Thank you for the compliment and I am glad that you like the processed image above. Mars is everyone's planet and I hope that more people get a chance to look at it during the current apparition (probably not till the end of the year when it gets a little bigger). I hope to get a look at it soon.
Carlos
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