Hello all,
Last night I had first light with a 16" Skywatcher SkyScan that I had acquired and replaced the mirrors in ( Thank you Nick in MN for them! ). Mostly cloudy and our public star party was cancelled as a result, so I was bummed not to be able to use the 16. Then, letting the dog out some hours later, I saw that the clouds had broke for a time and I decided to try and get the beast out in the driveway to test the optics. Not a lot of time to waste, the tracking was easy to set and accurate (Yay!) I viewed Jupiter, M42 ( magnificent, E & F stars -widely- separated and the nebula was pronounced) and Mars. The seeing was not optimal with higher humidity, but I do have Bortles 4 skies right above the house. At first blush I thought I had an issue with the eyepiece, as the one side of Mars was highly illuminated, almost looking like a profile of an eyeball. Then I realized it must be the polar cap!!! (Duh...) I was mesmerized by the view and stayed on it for the duration of the clear sky break I had. Now I realize that this being my first view of Mars at such a high magnification (450-600x) the cap would possibly seem larger than life. Mars itself was bigger than I had ever viewed it, and the detail on the surface was rather striking. My question concerns the expanse of the cap. Is it always this size? Is it larger at this point than it has been, and does it vary consequently? It was certainly an image that will stay with me for some time (and BTW, I am extremely chuffed with the SW 16")