The Dutch Observatory

October 30, 2009 on 9:59 am | In Mars, Planets | Comments Off

The forecast showed better conditions for 5:00 A.M.  So I set my alarm clock for 4:30.  It was clear, but the humidity was 90% and it kept me going to keep the corrector plate from dewing over.  Once I setup,  I thought I had problems with my Celestron barlow lens, but when positioned in front of  the filter wheel, the magnification was too big and I did not get enough light to get decent exposures, so the the barlow went back behind the filter wheel again.  Here my Mars image from this morning.  The clouds moved in before I knew it and I could not even complete the blue AVI of the second set.  Here Mars with Syrtis Major at the CM on the evening limb.