Same here, darn it. I am going to drag out the telescope and see what I can see (some other night of course).
I have been able to see Jupiter and it's moons as well as the rings around Saturn, so maybe I'll get a decent view of Mars.
Sure hope so!

 

If you ever want to read an "interesting" book that revolves around men on mars try; "Man Plus" by Frederick Pohl... I found it to be very good.

Seems the price has changed tho... My copy was $1.95, now amazon wants $19.95 for a new paperback!

 

I got an incredibly detailed picture of the equatorial region of mars just this morning!

Check it out:

 

Uh oh, I hope the Earth isn't obstructing his view if Venus...

 

Mars is only going to be like 32,000,000 miles away on aug 27th, i got a tasco reflector ( $249.00 ) and a MEADE 6 inch refractor ($700.00) . I went out and looked friday night and i can already see the polar caps and some light details of the surface features. mostly just shadows, but hey it is still right now 38 million miles away. I am sorry to say the walmart 100 dollar job will not provide much on surface details but should see the polar caps. As for taking pictures with the scope, i have tried already and it is hard, unless you have a powered auto tracker to move the scope with mars while your camara lens stays open for up to two minutes or more, pictures are hard. Gone thru 6 rolls of 800 speed already, probley shoot 8 more during the end of aug. but if you get a chance to look, go do it. It wont be this close for another 2562 years, which then it will be like 21 million miles away. I think i will be in Ford heaven then, or chevy Hell lol.

 

Well its a digital and it will shoot equivalent of 1600 speed. You gotta be fast when taking sky pics, this stuff is moving incredibly fast.

 

I finally got my 90 mm Orion out. The problem was the full moon.

I was unable to see the caps or much surface detail. I should've slapped a filter on it but I didn't grab that box. I used a 1.25" 2X barlow with a 9mm lens. The best viewing was with the barlow and the 25mm Plossel lens. I think if I could stay up to about 2-3 am I might get some good viewing. But that ain't going to happen. I'll try again this weekend.

I would love to have a 6" refractor. If I move out of town, it will happen.

 

Dan
Thanks for the update. Clouds, clouds, every night...clouds and fog, or clouds and haze.....
I don't expect much from my $100 Tasco, but I've got it all cleaned up and ready to go whenever I get a clear night.
Keep us posted if you get out again.

 

Well.... the $100 Tasco suprised me! Last night I sat in the driveway about 12:30 and took a gander at Mars. (We finally had a relatively clear night.) I could clearly see the polar ice cap. It was not nice, bright and beautiful like you'd expect to see through a "real telescope" but I could clearly see it was there.
Anyways, it was worth getting a few mosquito bites over.
Pretty cool stuff out there! (in space, not my driveway)

 

is your $100 tasco a reflator or a reflector ? cause it really makes a differnce in seeing things if you use a reflector instead of a reflactor

 

Refractor....a really cheap refractor at that!

 

Just had to check this thread and see if anybody managed to work in a "Uranus" joke. Frankly, I'm disappointed.

The forest fire smoke is so thick here you can barely make out the moon. It is pale red though.

Waxy

 

OK Waxy.....
I have seen the rings around Saturn, but I hope I never see the rings around Uranus.

 

Waxy

 

That link on the first page was really cool. I spent a couple hours at that site, looking at all the pictures. Thanks...was well worth the time to go there. Now, just to drive my wife nuts, I want to get a telescope.