129 replies to this topic

[Anthony236J]

Nice report Carlos. I was also able to view Mars last night as it cleared our rooftop at a reasonable time. Unfortunately, there was very poor seeing but I was still able to make out a few features. Referencing some Martian maps afterwards, I believe I saw Mare Acidalium, what I think you referenced as the triangular dark region, depending on the time you were observing. Opposite this region, I believe I saw a combination of Mare Erythraeum and Sinus Meridian as a darkened, elongated and curved feature hugging the limb of the planet. It was possible a polar cap was seen but I'm not confident due to atmospheric turbulence - similar story for possible clouds at the northeastern limb. Overall a very nice view of the red planet, given the conditions.

Edited by Anthony236J, 10 January 2025 - 10:50 AM.

[RichD]

First night with mars for me last night, seeing was only average but managed to see some good detail in the calmer moments. Winter weather has been bad for us and at 53 deg N we are under the jet stream so winter planet observing is always tough.

Forgot how rewarding mars is if you have a little patience, something magical about knowing you are seeing actual rocky surface features rather than cloud tops, as with jupiter and Saturn.

I only managed 90 mins or so as it was -5 deg C here, will try again tonight.

[MrSyzygy]

Mars Opposition Week is here! Here's the line-up of events with some very special coincidences with the Moon!

 

List of events this week: Sunday, January 12, 2025 through Thursday, January 16, 2025

 

1) Mars at Opposition (and related events)
2) A Full Wolf Moon
3) A Lunar Occultation of Mars (visible throughout the United States [Lower 48])

 

Mark your calendar:

 

2025-JAN-12 @ 13:38 UTC - Mars at perigee (closest/largest) [1]
2025-JAN-13 @ 22:27 UTC - Full Wolf Moon (Moon at opposition) [2]
2025-JAN-14 @ 01:44 UTC - Lunar occultation of Mars begins [3]
2025-JAN-14 @ 05:52 UTC - Lunar occultation of Mars ends [3]
2025-JAN-15 @ 10:27 UTC - Mars at greatest brilliancy (brightest) [mag -1.51 Stellarium] [4]
2025-JAN-16 @ 01:51 UTC - Mars at greatest illumination (fullest) [99.95% Stellarium] [4]
2025-JAN-16 @ 02:31 UTC - Mars at opposition (ecliptic longitude differs Sun by 180 degrees) [2]
2025-JAN-16 @ 16:53 UTC - Mars at equatorial opposition (right ascension differs Sun by 12 hours) [Stellarium] [4]

 

[1] https://www.space.co...t-and-brightest
[2] https://www.space.co...s-how-to-see-it
[3] https://in-the-sky.o...20250114_16_100
[4] http://stellarium.org

 

Occultation Timing: http://www.lunar-occ...ts/0114mars.htm

[RichD]

Had an excellent night with Mars last night, 3hrs total - seeing was ok with moments of good stability and sky was clear all night. Syrtis major was very obvious, as was Utopia and Mare Acidalium. Polar cap beautiful. Slightly frustrating that the seeing would not settle down more than it did, at times it felt like it was calming nicely only to become unstable again.

 

The forecast for the next night (13th) was excellent, clear skies and good seeing, but alas has now changed to cloudy! Planet observing in a UK winter - always frustrating.

 

Clear skies

[Dave Mitsky]

https://earthsky.org...25--768x226.jpg

https://earthsky.org...ometimes-faint/

[William Lewis]

Very good views of mars tonight. Weather forecast was for solid cloud but i got a couple of clear hours in the end. Fortunately the jet stream had also gone north for a change so mars wasn't the usual glimpses from a red bubbling mess!

I've been observing mars since early in the opposition cycle, getting up In the early hours for some very unsatisfying views in late August and early September. It's been rewarding seeing it turn from a red blob into a planet.

Edited by William Lewis, 15 January 2025 - 05:49 PM.

[ABQJeff]

So-so views of Mars tonight due to seeing (while skies were dry and clear).  300x was maximum I could do and it was going in and out of focus.  BUT when in focus, WOW was that polar cap huge.  That is the largest Martian polar cap I have seen.  Just Beautiful.

Edited by ABQJeff, 15 January 2025 - 11:43 PM.

[Nankins]

I have been seeing some Slooh images that are really cool to see.  The ice cap appears very very thick - and it's not normally that prominent in Slooh images.  I have had a slew of cloudy, cold, moonlight, and work nights here so I haven't been able to observe in about 2 months and it doesn't look like I will get a break until next week.  So I scheduled a bunch of Slooh missions for Mars and Venus.  I did catch the occultation about 2 hours before it started while at work though because I glanced out the window and saw Mars and Moon too close for comfort.  Should've taken the scope outside when I got home - I looked for the "star" I had seen near the Moon while driving home a few times looking back when I could and didn't see anything - turns out Moon was covering Mars during that time period (9:25-10:00 pm).  Mostly missed it therefore....

 

Will probably try if I feel like it in a few days when it is supposed to clear up yet be in the single digits during the day and zero temps at night - scope can take it now because scope has been living in the garage. 

[tturtle]

I had my 9.25 sct out with a binoviewer for the first time tonight to do a serious viewing of the red planet. Seeing was pretty poor with a lot of turbulence so I could only get to 250x but some brief moments of clarity revealed several light and dark areas on the surface and possibly a whitish area at the pole.  This is the first time in years that I have had my binoviewer set up with this scope to look at Mars. If I can get a night of decent seeing i can go a lot higher with magnification and it should be stunning. Very excited to view this planet over the next month and seriously thinking about getting into sketching. 

[slavicek]

I had my 9.25 sct out with a binoviewer for the first time tonight to do a serious viewing of the red planet. Seeing was pretty poor with a lot of turbulence so I could only get to 250x but some brief moments of clarity revealed several light and dark areas on the surface and possibly a whitish area at the pole.  This is the first time in years that I have had my binoviewer set up with this scope to look at Mars. If I can get a night of decent seeing i can go a lot higher with magnification and it should be stunning. Very excited to view this planet over the next month and seriously thinking about getting into sketching. 

If the seeing is poor you might be better of with lower mag. In "good" seeing I have best results ~ 200x with my TEC. If I push it to 300x my views get worse. I do 300x + only when it's very calm. 

With binoviewer I can keep staring at Mars for long periods of time without getting my eyes tired and enjoy those short moments when it gets really sharp and I go WOW because I can see shapes of those "mares".

This Mars opposition I made dozen or so sketches already - sketching make you see more detail, I highly recommend it.

[thedude_01]

I observed Mars the past 2 nights, however, I thought seeing conditions were much better last night (plus the moon was rising a bit later). I actually stood out for about an hour versus the previous night was just 30 minutes observing Mars. With my 9.25, I was able to see the Ice Cap and some surface details especially after it rose a bit in the sky. 

Comparing it to the crescent shaped Venus last night, I would say the disc of Mars is about half the size of Venus, what do you guys think? 

[Dave Mitsky]

I observed Mars on Saturday morning using the Naylor Observatory's 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at 162, 202, and 259x.  I also used a Baader Moon and Skyglow filter.  Unfortunately, the seeing was rather bad and no real detail could be seen.

[Dave Mitsky]

Comparing it to the crescent shaped Venus last night, I would say the disc of Mars is about half the size of Venus, what do you guys think?

Venus had an angular diameter of about 26.4 arcseconds and Mars about 14.5 arcseconds on Friday night so Mars was about half the angular size of Venus.

[Nankins]

The wind tonight didn't stop me from observing Mars for 20 or so minutes along with a few other objects.  Even though it was still a bit low in the east it still provided me with about the best view I've ever had - with the ice cap huge and prominent and Syrtis Major looking rather full of subtle texture and sitting right in the center.  In the best moments with the right magnification the defining lines between dark albedo features and the high albedo features were fairly sharp.  The entire southern hemisphere appear filled with many highly textured regions in the few moments when the atmosphere calmed a bit.  For me the views were rather surreal - I hadn't noticed a ton of detail the first few times I observed Mars other than the differences between high and low albedo, Syrtis Major, and the ice cap - which was definitely a lot smaller then.  It's been two years since those observations though.  Can't wait for it to be higher in the sky during those months that should be warmer than now even though it will be further from Earth and appear smaller.  

[Spikey131]

Vacationing in the Florida Keys from the frozen North.  The air gets so calm down here.  The TV76 is the biggest I could bring on the plane.  Last night I was able to observe Mars at 192x with a 2.5mm Nagler.  The polar hood, Syrtis Major, and the surrounding terrae were all clearly visible.  The best that I have ever seen through a 3” scope!

[Lentini]

Very nice. One thing that hasn’t seemed to be much of an issue this time around… I’m not hearing anything about dust storms. In the past, my recollection was the detail seen seemed frequently affected/obscured by very large storms.

[ButterFly]

No need to tempt the Gods.

[Josephus Miller]

I finally got out for a good session with the red planet last night. Seeing was just "acceptable," but that was a major improvement from the seeing which I can only describe as "execrable" which has prevailed basically since the occultation on the 13th. 

 

The polar cap was very visible, with a distinct dark band around the margins. Syrtis Major was also plain to see, shading into Tyrrhenum, in the lower left quadrant of the disk as it presented to me through my Unitron 142. Between the polar cap and these features, the planet looked inescapably like a bruised apricot.

 

I spent about 40 minutes with the planet, but it was down to about 10 degrees by the time I packed it in and the grease in my focuser, the mount head, and my SV Bony zoom ep was getting so stiff as to be unworkable so I figured that was long enough.

 

[12BH7]

I had one good night with medium power. I was able to clearly see a bright white polar cap and possibly Syrtis Major. It was all pretty clear, but identifying those features is a bit more challenging. 

 

I've penciled out the features I was seeing on Mars. But I'm yet to ever conclusively connect what I sketched to an actual named feature.

Edited by 12BH7, 25 January 2025 - 08:50 AM.

[quilty]

Yes, in the past I've seen the true ice cap as having a sharp boundary which makes it appear differently from the view
of the hood. I also observed some limb brightening on the following limb, starting at the mid section and running down to the south.

the hood is mist? how do we know if there's an icecap below?

[ButterFly]

I had one good night with medium power. I was able to clearly see a bright white polar cap and possibly Syrtis Major. It was all pretty clear, but identifying those features is a bit more challenging. 

 

I've penciled out the features I was seeing on Mars. But I'm yet to ever conclusively connect what I sketched to an actual named feature.

The British Astronomical Association has a good compendium of maps for Mars' albedo features.  I like Frassati's 2001 map at the scope.  Something like SkySafari helps to confirm which longitude is visible at the middle of the disk.

[ButterFly]

Aeschliman's Mars Observer's Map didn't make it onto the list above, for some reason.  Having the realistic relative darkening, and the guide "globes" at the top help a lot.

 

Once you know what Syrtis Major looks like, you'll always know.  It's very dark, and crosses the equator by a very wide margin.

[Josephus Miller]

Aeschliman's Mars Observer's Map didn't make it onto the list above, for some reason.  Having the realistic relative darkening, and the guide "globes" at the top help a lot.

 

Once you know what Syrtis Major looks like, you'll always know.  It's very dark, and crosses the equator by a very wide margin.

This one is fabulous! Thanks for posting. I don't think I'd seen it before.

 

I was outside yesterday evening and was surprised by how still it was and how steady the stars looked, so I grabbed my 102mm achromat and took a peek at Mars at around 6:00 MST. There was still a bit of twilight in the air, and even relatively low the seeing was decent. I observed Syrtis Major just coming around the limb, and what must have been Mare Cimmerium swimming at the edge of perception toward the meridian. I also sketched a dark smudge near the polar cap, roughly north of Syrtis Major, that I don't recall noticing before. I wonder if that was Utopia Planitia, or part of it. 

 

I came out again later, from 9:15 on. Mars was higher and the seeing better. Syrtis Major was now significantly closer to the meridian, and much darker in appearance. Cimmerium was gone, though, and I couldn't recover Utopia or whatever that was. 

Edited by Josephus Miller, 27 January 2025 - 02:48 PM.

[Refractor6]

   Good views of Mars last night in my 120 F/7.5 Apo.....

 

  After Mars cleared the nearby trees and got higher in the sky the view steadied and I engaged the dual drives on my EQ5 and bumped the power with a Antares 9mm Ortho and Antares 2x barlow and had a long observation.   Pole cap and surface details started to show well. First good views of it after a recent long stretch of evening fog after months of bad weather before that.

 

 Very cold last night and glad to head back in when the temperature further dipped.....

[ABQJeff]

Mars was AMAZING this evening. 75-77 degrees in elevation, seeing could support 400x, the polar cap, Syrtis Major, Hesperia Planum, Utopia Planitia,Elysium Planitia, all were easy. It looked better/more interesting than Jupiter.

Edited by ABQJeff, 01 February 2025 - 09:18 AM.