by Mark Wagner
Mars was beyond words last night at Fremont Peak. We didn't have any nice refractors, so we used a 20" f/5 Dob with various eyepieces. Found the best view by far was with a 3.8 Orion Ultrascopic (cheap, but it worked wonderfully).... how many X is that anyway? :-) I would guess we were observing Mars at about 1 a.m. (PDT).... aside from very large dark areas all over the planet, I was impressed by what seemed to be a dark apron, looking even textural, extending away from the polar cap. There were also two big bright white areas on the limb (sorry, I am a planetary newbie), on each side of the equator. It was nearly as good a view as I had two years ago through a friends AP180. Anyway.... Dave.... good seeing was just an hour south of where you were.