Mars was king of the night.

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John Baars Netherlands
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Mars was king of the night.

#1

Post by John Baars »


Last night sky was nice and open and it stayed that way. Seeing was moderate, but became better as the surrounding environment cooled down during the evening / night. To my surprise no mist formed.
As usual I started out with Jupiter and Saturn with my 120mm Evostar. Only every now and then they showed some spicy details. The GRS was quite obvious though.

Half an hour later I did some exercises in the zenith, with the focusser, since I had adjusted the tension of it. Soon thereafter I turned to M27 with UHC, furthermore M71 an NGC 7789 ( Carolines' Rose). I changed telescopes. It was the 150mm f/5 his turn now. I examined the very same last two objects and decided that under the circumstances, and given those two objects, the 120mm gave a nicer view. The 120 showed a bit more needlepoint stars and gave thus a more beautiful impression. ( I had established this difference already in earlier tests). Needless to say that The ET cluster ( Owl-cluster NGC547) , NGC663, M103 , the Double Cluster and the accompanying Stock 2 were lovely objects in the 150 mm Achromat. The planetary NGC 6781 in Aquila was more difficult, but still doable with averted vision.

Marstime.
Once again, change of instruments. I had left the 120 mm Apo outside, so there was no cooling down to be done. Mars was already reasonably high up and blazed forward. Seeing had become better. Details were instantly visible. Only every now and then they seemed to dissapear. With my Leica ASPH Zoom eyepiece I zoomed down from 236X to approximately 180X and decided this was the best. I had taken my planetary weapon, the legendary Pentax XO5 eyepiece with me, and put it in. The difference was very well visible. Not more details, but the details that were visible with the Leica showed more contrast in the XO5. I had left my sketching material inside the house, but made a quick one as soon as I came in....on a simple blocnote. Sorry for that, I found my sketching bloc this afternoon underneath some magazines, a bit sloppy. So I had to remove all horizontal lines of the original blocnote. More an excercise in Paint than sketching, and more time consuming than a simple search for my sketch-book.

Nevertheless, here it is.
Mars 20 sept 2020 (final).jpg
Mars 20 sept 2020 (final).jpg (40.68 KiB) Viewed 2253 times
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

#2

Post by Shabadoo »


Nice drawing!
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

#3

Post by rocdoc »


Very cool. Can’t wait for Mars to climb a bit higher.
Properly collimated cornea-lens-vitreous optical apparatus, projecting on retinal sensor slightly limited by deuteranomaly, feeding through stock optic nerves into functional primary cortex, processed through frequently misfiring and buggy integrative cortex.
Other instruments: Skyline 8" Dobsonian, on a dob pod; Celestron Omni XLT 120 w GSO crayford focuser and Meade 5000 diagonal on Stellarvue M2C mount and Meade LX70 tripod; Oberwerk Binos: 25x100 Deluxe IF on Benro tripod with Oberwerk 5000 head or Farpoint parallelogram; 10x50 Ultra, usually on 3 Legged Thing Punks Trent monopod with Dolica trigger grip head; 8x42 Sport ED hand held. Main EPs: ES 82º 24mm and 11mm, Celestron Luminos 19mm and 10mm, Meade UWA 14mm, Meade HD-60 6.5mm. Filters: UHC, 13%, blue. Finders: RACI, Telrad, RDF, reticle.
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by helicon »


Looks great John. Nice sketch and glad that you were able to catch Mars and the other objects.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by Greenman »


Sounds like a fun session John, nice sketch, I have to leave it to pixels as I haven't got beyond the stickman level :?
Cheers,

Tony.

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Smart Scope: Dwarf II - Club and outreach work.

AP Refractor: Altair 72EDF Deluxe F6;1x & 0.8 Flatteners; Antares Versascope 60mm finder. ASIAir Pro.Li battery pack for grab & go.

Celestron AVX Mount; X-cel LX eyepieces & Barlows 2x 3x, ZWO 2” Filter holder,

Cameras: main DSO ASI533MC; DSO guide ASI120MM; Planetary ASI224MC; DSLR Canon EOS100 stock.

Filters: Astronomik IR cut; Optolong L-Pro; Optolong L-Enhance.

Binoculars: Celestron 15 x 70.

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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by Lady Fraktor »


A nice sketch and report John.
Hopefully your skies are good for tonight as well.
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by notFritzArgelander »


Good session! Mars opposition is only a month away!
Scopes: Refs: Orion ST80, SV 80EDA f7, TS 102ED f11 Newts: AWB 130mm, f5, Z12 f5; Cats: VMC110L, Intes MK66,VMC200L f9.75 EPs: KK Fujiyama Orthoscopics, 2x Vixen NPLs (40-6mm) and BCOs, Baader Mark IV zooms, TV Panoptics, Delos, Plossl 32-8mm. Mixed brand Masuyama/Astroplans Binoculars: Nikon Aculon 10x50, Celestron 15x70, Baader Maxbright. Mounts: Star Seeker IV, Vixen Porta II, Celestron CG5
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by Bigzmey »


Another great sketch John, well done!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by Makuser »


Hi John. Yet another nice sketch from you here. You drew some fine surface details and I admire your drawing skills. Thanks for your report John, and keep looking up.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
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Re: Mars was king of the night.

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Post by terrynak »


Very nice session and Mars sketch with the two 'fracs John!

Haven't observed in over a month and now Mars is bigger and brighter in the sky, so I'm really looking forward to getting my 6" F/8 Newt on it, using 200x (the highest I can go with my 6mm EP without using a Barlow).
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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Post by Juno16 »


Very nice report and equipment comparison. Your Mars sketch shows really nice details. Nice work!

I would imagine that drawing a sketch would be a nice exercise in studying details. Sketching is something that I have no aptitude for unfortunately! Obviously, you have good skills.

Thanks for sharing your evening!
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), Orion 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, Orion SSAG, IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
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