Observed 8/12/03 from my back deck midnight to 1:30 a.m. pacific DST (daylight savings time) or 07:00 - 8:30 UT. Transparency poor 2/6 (near full moon), seeing good 6/10. South Polar Cap notch and dark melt line continue to be prominent. Hellas visible at times. Mare Tyrrhenum and Mare Cimmerium visible.

Date: 08/12/03 Lat 37N, Long 122W, elev. 200 feet	Sketch Time (UT): 8:00, (local time): 1:00 a.m. DST
Central Meridian: 228°	Filters: none
Instrument: 4-inch (105mm) f/6 Astro-Physics Traveler Apo refractor.	Distance from earth 0.39 AU, 58.5m km, 36.3m miles
Magnification: (4mm) 376x  Zeiss Abbe Ortho combined with a 2.4x AP Barcon Barlow	Transp. 2/6, Seeing 6/10, Antoniadi (I-V):  III
Apparent Size: 24.1"	Magnitude: -2.6

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. Terminator is where daylight ends and evening begins, but the phase is 98% so it is difficult to see the terminator anymore. The terminator is on the left, tho' 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 24.1 arc seconds (Jupiter is about 30 -50 arc seconds in diameter depending on its distance from earth). Central Meridian 228 - 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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