Mars – January 11, 2010
Sketch and Details by Juan Perez (Juanchin)
Object : Planet Mars
Date : January 11, 2010
Time : 23:30 LST / 06:30 UT
Location : El Mirage Arizona USA
Instrument : CPC 1100 / 10 & 7mm Plossl’s
Magnitude : -.7 (Stellarium)
Weather : Chilly night but pleasant, upper 40’s, clear sky!
Mars is an eyecatcher for several reasons; Mars is simply at that time of its orbital cycle where it is closest to Earth and also closest
to the Sun – perihelion. Earth’s position is in the middle thus we say that Mars is at opposition. These two opportunities are not to be
missed, for Mars increases in disc size and becomes brighter by having fuller illumination of its surface by the Sun. For those of us in
the Northern hemisphere, how could you not resist pointing your telescope directly above your head and focus on the orange glowing
planet.
At 13.6 arc-seconds it doesn’t rival its disc size like that of 2003 when it increased to almost twice its size, 25 arc-seconds in
diameter.Even though I lack the eagle vision that a few of you ASOD regulars posses, I was still able to distinguish just a few albedo
features. The South and North polar caps were highly pronounced along with a stretch of bright limb haze around the edge of the disc.
The dark collar which follows the NPC was visible although it varied in its intensity, guessing from turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The most striking and noticeable dark region was that of Syrtis Major.I spent a few hours trying to work my eyesight in search of any
other subtle details which I ended alphabetizing on the sketch.
Again, Mars is at the center of attention this month and it beckons us to explore its surface details with those optical instruments.
Give it a try, for Mars is looking up! 😀
Juan,
Yet another wonderful sketch and report from you. Your color selection and details visible make me long for another view of Mars. Very well done.
Frank 🙂
Wonderful Juan,
I do love the differing styles that we all have. An excellent drawing made under enviable conditions.
Dale 🙂
Frank, Dale-
Thank you both for your generous comments! I forgot to include a little background information on the above sketch.
While the preliminary sketch was done using charcoal pencils, I decided to give it a try on Microsoft Paint. A bit time consuming but it yield a better appearance to my satisfaction. I hope everyone enjoyed it as well.
Juanchin