I had intended to catch up with Mars in June to begin my
observations and sketches of this exciting opposition.
Unfortunately a long run of poor weather in the UK prevented me
from doing this. Finally I caught up with the Red one early on the
morning of Sat 8th July. It was hard work but I sucked out some
detail in the end from the distant ruby planet.
Dale Holt
Here is the original SPA observation form with all the details about Dale’s sketch:
Dale,
Congratulations on your first observation of the 2007-08 aparition! With Mars at an apparent diameter of only ~6.5″, it’s an accomplishment to see any albedo features at all. It is even more of a challenge right now because there have been regional dust storms on Mars since June 25th.
Going by the time of your observation, the central meridian was `74°. Solis Lacus was approaching the CM but the following part of it is obscured by dust. The South Polar Cap (SPC) is also obscured by dust. It is small right now but I believe still would have been apparent to you if not for the dust. See this excellent set of images made a day later by your countryman, Damian Peach:
http://www.damianpeach.com:80/mars07/m2007_07_08rgb_dp.jpg
Good luck with your future observations.
Michael Rosolina
Friars Hill, WV USA
Dale,
Great sketch and observation of Mars! I got up early this morning to take a peek at it. It was still quite tiny at 400X. I can’t wait until December! Thank you for sharing!
Jason
Dale,
Wonderful early Mars sketch. It really is a struggle to bring out any detail as Michael explained above and yet you did it. As you already know the view will continue to get better all year.
Frank
Dear Michael, Jason & Frank,
How exciting to be discussing Mars with other fellows of the astronomical brotherhood from around the globe. I have indeed seen Damien’s staggering images. I set my alarm clock for 4am local time every morning in the hope that it is clear and I can get my newly coated mirror pointing towards our ruby target again (unfortunately I have had only the one opportunity to date)
I have a rather nice image taken at the same time as I made my sketch by a friend of mine which I will post to Rich today as he may wish to post a composite to show just what us visual folk can achieve.
Clear skies all, Dale