Observation Data

Observation Notes

The following sketches were made while observing with an Orion XT8 telescope:

*10 May 01, Chaco Canyon, NM.

*The identification of the two tiny dots indicated by the '?' is unknown to me. At first I thought they were Mars' moons, but discovered they couldn't be. Deimos and Phobos are much closer to Mars. I am currently trying to find out if they could be asteroids. Some notes about these two: I've only seen them twice - on this date and the next night; They stood out because compared to the other stars they were two tiny dots, not two tiny dots of light.

*Mars is currently in Sagittarius (Sgr).

*10 May 01, Chaco Canyon, NM.

*Antares is the brightest star in Scorpius.

*Beta is named Acrab, and Delta is Dschubba.

*21 May 01, Buck Prairie, WA

*Mars is still in Sagittarius; Gamma's name is Alnasl.

*Although it is not obvious Mars has moved slightly -- look at the sketch from 10 May, note where 3 Sgr is. If it, 3 Sgr, was on this sketch then it would be between the Ophiuchus stars and Gamma near the edge of the circle ... in the area of the three unidentified stars. In other words Mars is exiting Sagittarius headed towards Ophiuchus ... going backwards due to retrograde.

Other comments:

10 May - Mars looks like a waning moon with blue and red around the rim.
Antares looks like a yellowish full moon.
21 May - Mars is a really bright white orb tonight, and still resembles a waning moon with a blue rim on the top and a yellow rim on the bottom.

Telescope data: Dobsonian reflector
                          Diameter - 8" (205mm)
                          Focal length - 1200mm
                          Focal ratio - 6
                          Eyepiece - 25mm
                          Field of view (w/25mm) - approx. 5 degrees
                          *View through eyepiece is inverted

The following sketches were made while observing with
10 x 50 binoculars:

Mars - 7 May 01; Chaco	Mars - 10 May 01; Chaco	Mars - 22 May 01; Buck Prairie

Mars in Sagittarius ...	not much different from three nights ago ...	two weeks later ... notice where Mu is? The 'inset' circle refers to M8 - Lagoon Nebula ... while i was sketching this view I saw an 'unusual' star formation, so i sketched it too.
Other comments: 10 May - Mars looks like a white waxing moon with blue around the rim. 22 May - Mars still looks like a waxing moon with yellowish/red rim on the top and blue rim on the bottom.

Binocular data: Field of view - approx. 8 degrees

The following sketches are of the Lagoon Nebula and Mars colorful apparel:

Orion Moon 10 May	Orion Moon 21 May	Binocular Moon 10 May

M8 - Lagoon Nebula		Binocular Moon 22 May

Comments: The heavy dots in the M8 sketch were exaggerated to show contrast, not magnitude -- none of these stars were visible to the naked eye.

        Conclusions? I've yet to see any surface features or the moons of Mars -- but there is hope. Mars is scheduled to get larger and come closer to us in June (Troiani 102).
        I am convinced that I have been observing Mars' phase, as described by Moore (177) and the two dots annotated by the question mark above are probably asteroids -- but I still need confirmation. The colors around Mars' rim are puzzling, I can't dismiss them as aberration or atmospherics, at least not until it is verified.
        If I've learned anything from these observations it's that observing is hard work. Collecting useable data takes practice and time. Then analyzing the data can be difficult without proper resources. For example, the reason I haven't confirmed whether I'm seeing Mars' phase is because the resources aren't available yet -- there is a web site that posts Mars observations from amateur astronomers, but it is a few months behind. Also, Sky and Telescope publishes 'sightings' and they too are a few months behind. So, I'll just have to wait till the resources come available. Till then I'll continue to observe, learn more about Mars, and improve my observing skills.

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