TheSkySearchers

Out of a dozen or more observations only 3 were successful. Those 3 observations were spectacular showing dark rust color surface features. I used a 150mm f/8 achromatic refractor with a 4" sometimes a 3.5" aperture mask to cut down on the glare.

Why is Mars So Iffy?
I think she makes sure that we get the best out of ourselves, either by watching or photographing . :cool:

Typically because of our own atmosphere and its propensity to soften views. Also, you have the dust storms that occur on Mars itself, which can obscure details. So between those two factors, it is not unusual to get poor views of its small disk. But as you experienced, there are those few times when things are great and you get the views you are craving. About two or three years ago I got a great view with my ED80, with Syrtis Major and a snow cap quite noticeable. I rarely look at the planets, so I felt fortunate.

Had a great view at 80x in the ten inch Dob this past opposition, very small but crisp details were visible including Syrtis and the polar caps along with a semi-horizontal line on the disk. The interesting thing is when I pushed power up to 200 the image was degraded and less features were visible, which I attribute to less than stellar atmospheric conditions. At 36x in the 6" achro the glare was a bit overpowering, so I actually had a better view in the Dob. Nor did I step down the aperture of the achro.

It has been pretty good this season, partly due to the opposition and partly to the high declination. Just after opposition there was a dust storm as I recall. Atmospheric effects are worse on planets than stars due simply to their closeness. When they are a low declination it’s best to forget them (below 15 degrees) unless you invest in a ADC for (atmospheric dispersion corrector).

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-ac ... r-adc.html