Sketched August 6, 2003 from my back deck 2:15 a.m. pacific DST (daylight savings time) or 09:15 UT. Good observing conditions, some passing clouds in the distance from 2:15 a.m. to 3:15 a.m. It had been over a week since I had been able to observe and sketch Mars due to clouds and vacation.

Date: 08/6/03 Lat 37N, Long 122W, elev. 200 feet	Sketch Time (UT): 9:15, (local time): 2:15 a.m. DST
Central Meridian: 300°	Filters: Orion Variable polarizing filter 1% - 40% transmission
Instrument: 4-inch (105mm) f/6 Astro-Physics Traveler Apo refractor.	Distance from earth 0.40 AU, 60m km, 37m miles
Magnification: (4mm) 376x  (6mm) 252x  Zeiss Abbe Orthos combined with a 2.4x AP Barcon Barlow	Transp. 4/6, Seeing 6/10, Antoniadi (I-V):  II - III
Apparent Size: 23.1"	Magnitude: -2.5

Hooray, this is the first time I've seen Syrtis Major in over a month. Mars, in this sketch is reversed N/S. South is shown at the top of the image. The south polar cap is the prominent feature although it is shrinking dramatically. Terminator is where daylight ends and evening begins, and the phase, nearing opposition is 97% illuminated. The terminator is on the left and the planet is rotating left to right. In my sketches the planet rotates martian east (left) to west (right) to match most other images and sketches. Look for features rotating from left to right in the drawings from night to night.

Details about Mars: Diameter 23 arc seconds (Jupiter is about 30 -50 arc seconds in diameter depending on its distance from earth). The next 6 weeks are the best times for observing Mars, On August 28th, the planet is 25 arc seconds in diameter and reaches 0.37 AU from earth - that's 55 million KM and 34 million miles from earth! Central Meridian 300 - the imaginary line passing through the planetary poles of rotation and bisecting the planetary disk, and is used to determine the longitude during an observing session.

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