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Was cloudy for a while here, finally a clear night, so got the Dob out early for 6-7 pm session. I have found that my seeing is better early and degrades a bit after 10 pm. Seeing was supposed to be average tonight but turned out quite good.
8" Dob. For Mars I have settled on two EPs,
A Meade 8-24 zoom at 8mm with a 2x Barlow and a variable polarizer (300x)
ES82 6.7mm with an orange filter in a 2x Barlow. (358x)
I noticed on the Mars map that Syrtis Major was more towards center, so thought it was good time to try Hellas, which I had not been able to see a month ago. Put the Dob out to cool around 4:30pm. Got my astro barstool and inverted T shirt light hood ready.
Started observing sometime after 6:00pm. Sat glued to the EP for a while nudging the scope, and was able to see the Hellas Planitia as a paler patch quite a few times. The boundary of Hellas towards Syrtis Major (North and East) seemed clearer. On the South and West it seemed to be elongated, maybe merging into Malea Planum. Tried both my EP setups, could see it in both, the zoom with the variable polarizer seemed better.
The weather has not been great lately, hoping for a few more Mars nights.
Gabrielle See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110) The only culture I have is from yogurt
Nice job! I've also seen Hellas for the first time not too long ago and I felt the same way: there isn't a well-defined circle but rather a larger-than-Hellas pale area. I had seen on maps it being so well defined. But when I finally looked at recent images I saw that it no longer looks like it did in the old maps and it actually does blend in on the S and W just as you say.
