Sketched August 30, 2003 from Anza Borrego State Park, 1:00 a.m. pacific DST (daylight savings time) or 08:00 UT August 30. Seeing outstanding, transparency LM 6.0 - good right outside our room in the resort parking lot.
| Date: 08/30/03 Lat 33N, Long 116W, elev. 562 feet | Sketch Time (UT): 8:00, (local time): 1:00 a.m. DST |
| Central Meridian: 69° | Filters: none |
| Instrument: 7.1-inch (180mm) f/9 Astro-Physics Starfire Apo refractor. | Distance from earth 0.37 AU, 55.5m km, 34.4m miles |
| Magnification: (10mm) 400x Zeiss Abbe Ortho plus 2.4x AP Barcon barlow | Transp. 6/6, Seeing 10/10, Antoniadi (I-V): I |
| Apparent Size: 25.04" | Magnitude: -2.9 |
Details about the sketch: I used my 180mm (7.1-inch diameter) f/9 Astro-Physics EDT refractor, 10mm Zeiss Abbe orthoscopic eyepiece plus barcon barlow and binoviewer for 400x. Sketched from Borrego Springs, Longitude 116W, Latitude 33N, elevation 562 feet. Seeing 10/10 and transparency 5/6. Temperatures 110 day high 90's at night.
Details about Mars: Diameter 25.04 arc seconds (Jupiter is about 30 -50 arc seconds in diameter depending on its distance from earth). Central Meridian 69 - 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. Key features are Solis Lacus and a nice notch in the South Polar cap. This is my favorite "side" of Mars. The detail in Solis Lacus was amazing. It showed a lighter "cloudy" coloration on the side nearest to the South Polar Cap. Tithonius Lacus is the snakey feature north (location of Valles Marineris) and Aonius Lacus is the feature to the south. Between this and Solis Lacus is a little lighter feature Thaumasia, and a lighter feature still, Syria. Chryse is the oval football shaped lighter feature that is below and rotating off to the left. The litle hook curvey feature right of Solis Lacis is a bit of Mare Sirenum. North (below) of Chryse is a dark feature, Niliacus Lacus and right on the northern limb below this is a lighter feature Mare Acidalium. Wow!
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