Telescope Reviews: Mars & Jupiter 30/06/09

i had another go at Mars on tuesday morning, it's been very warm (up to 30°C) lately with almost no wind for a few days, so the atmosphere is very calm early in the morning!

this time the scope didn't sleep outside (i could be fogged out with such steady & humid conditions, so i decided to set the scope up if it should happen to be clear in the morning). the recently installed cooling fan worked well to reduce the cooldown time due to tube currents, and after just fifteen minutes jupiter showed a lot of detail, including the big red gap, big white spot, or whatever it should be appropriately named now.

the 'bowl' of the grs stood out clearly, the vague spot itself much less... the two separate southern bands joining under the grs was a very nice sight.
some interesting detail was also visible inside the northern belt. a few years ago i could observe Jupiter more frequently, and the difference in detail i could discern then and now is very clear imo. just as observing mars, jupiter takes time to get accustomed to.

next i swept the scope to the tiny red spot (trs) called mars. compared to my previous mars observation, it's only five degrees higher, but the seeing was much better: good to very good. i feel that the scope wasn't completely cooled down, but with so few detail for me to see, it didn't really matter. what was visible though was a (very) bright Hellas with Syrtis Major to the north (down), and the phase ofcourse!

i just checked all my mars sketches, the next one will be number 50

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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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