Mars on 23 Jan 2010

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:13 pm

Hi,
I observed at about 11pm last night with my 88mm refractor. The best time to view will be from 12am to 2am when Mars is close or at zenith. The higher the altitude of Mars the better as the atmospheric seeing will be less.

I would suggest to start with 100x first. If necessary than try using higher magnification but less than 200x.

kirbyong · Post by **kirbyong** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:06 pm

Tachyon wrote:Nice! Thanks for the description. Will be at Mauna Kea on 31 Jan to observe. Hope the weather is good!

hey there' how much do you pay to fly there?

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:52 am

kirbyong wrote:
Tachyon wrote:Nice! Thanks for the description. Will be at Mauna Kea on 31 Jan to observe. Hope the weather is good!
hey there' how much do you pay to fly there?

Actually only $227 for the internal flight since I am there on another island for a meeting.

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:37 am

Tachyon wrote:
kirbyong wrote:
Tachyon wrote:Nice! Thanks for the description. Will be at Mauna Kea on 31 Jan to observe. Hope the weather is good!
hey there' how much do you pay to fly there?
Actually only $227 for the internal flight since I am there on another island for a meeting.

How was Mars at Mauna Kea?

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 6:10 pm

Canopus Lim wrote:How was Mars at Mauna Kea?

Haha! There is a Celestron C11 scope but the only eyepieces available were 42mm and 30mm! The guy was busy showing Andromeda galaxy, M42, etc. Only when I requested for the moon did he slewed there, but at 30mm (93x)! But the guide was very good at educating the group on the constellations.... he was formerly an astronautical engineer...

Anyway, I was busy taking pictures of the moonrise by then.

One thing is clear - Mauna Kea rules! The stars do not twinkle at all except near the horizon! It's like being in space... but I guess you experienced it all already!

Perhaps next time we should book the entire van and ask the guide to let us handle the scope! Heh... My next trip up there I will bring a 5mm EP.

And yes, the sunset was breathtaking, literally, as I ran out of air and almost fainted when I tried to run here and there with my tripod to capture the images!

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:40 pm

Oh yeah the sight of the sunset and the stars, Milkway is unforgettable. Good that I have been to my dream place!

Hmm...wonder why that guy did not bother to look at Mars in such location!

What tour company did you hop onto to go to Mauna Kea? I used Arnott's tour, and stayed at Arnott's lodge. The owner is formally the descendent of Arnott's biscuits. It is actually very cheap accommodation and tour. It was about 60usd for the mini van ride up to Mauna Kea and some observing at Visitor centre. Actually, it was only there that I realised that it is permissible to drive up with 2WD to the Visitor centre.. only the summit is not allowed due to the steep gradient.

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:43 pm

I did a couple of observing of Mars these days. I do notice that the North Polar Cap is shrinking in size, thawing and less white. I could observe that the cap was breaking up to, and getting 'freckled'.

Attached are links to two simple sketches I drawn on 27 Jan and on 31 Jan. It was pretty amazing sight of Mars and at 320x it was razor sharp. 400x was no problem and retained the sharpness majority of the time, demonstrating the atmosphere was good.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/662/27janmarssmall.jpg
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8307/3 ... ssmall.jpg

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:27 pm

Canopus Lim wrote:Oh yeah the sight of the sunset and the stars, Milkway is unforgettable. Good that I have been to my dream place!

Hmm...wonder why that guy did not bother to look at Mars in such location!

What tour company did you hop onto to go to Mauna Kea? I used Arnott's tour, and stayed at Arnott's lodge. The owner is formally the descendent of Arnott's biscuits. It is actually very cheap accommodation and tour. It was about 60usd for the mini van ride up to Mauna Kea and some observing at Visitor centre. Actually, it was only there that I realised that it is permissible to drive up with 2WD to the Visitor centre.. only the summit is not allowed due to the steep gradient.

I joined Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. Price is USD170 per person, includes pick up, stop at Visitors' Center, and trip up to the observatories. I'm surprised we can actually get up close next to the scopes! For example, this picture was taken with a 11-16mm lens with me standing in a few meters in front of the scope!

Here I'm almost leaning on the dome (but I didn't as it was moving)!

wucheeyiun · Post by **wucheeyiun** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:11 am

Very nice to be where andrew is now ... yummmm

jiahao1986 · Post by **jiahao1986** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:23 am

Tachyon wrote:
Canopus Lim wrote:Oh yeah the sight of the sunset and the stars, Milkway is unforgettable. Good that I have been to my dream place!

Hmm...wonder why that guy did not bother to look at Mars in such location!

What tour company did you hop onto to go to Mauna Kea? I used Arnott's tour, and stayed at Arnott's lodge. The owner is formally the descendent of Arnott's biscuits. It is actually very cheap accommodation and tour. It was about 60usd for the mini van ride up to Mauna Kea and some observing at Visitor centre. Actually, it was only there that I realised that it is permissible to drive up with 2WD to the Visitor centre.. only the summit is not allowed due to the steep gradient.
I joined Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. Price is USD170 per person, includes pick up, stop at Visitors' Center, and trip up to the observatories. I'm surprised we can actually get up close next to the scopes! For example, this picture was taken with a 11-16mm lens with me standing in a few meters in front of the scope!

Here I'm almost leaning on the dome (but I didn't as it was moving)!

More photos please andrew!