Mars

Anyone manage to get up early yet and observe mars with a scope?
What level of detail can be seen at the moment?
Any dust storms?

Michael

Well, I guess to try and answer my own query I decided after the weather forecast I would get up at a ridiculously early time of 3.45 and give Mars a go! I hadn't seen Mars in a scope before (only have my LX90 about 8 months) and so was unsure what to expect. However, after allowing a small bit of time for the scope to cool down a bit, I could clearly see a disc about 80-85% sunlit. The southern polar cap was easy to spot . After this however, things got a little difficult. As the disc is only 14" wide and allowing for my scope not fully cooled down and for Mars relatively low over the horizon, trying to see surface detail was difficult.
What have anyone else seen?

saw mars from Tunisia last week when close to the moon at 4am, amazing how brighter it was due to being only 36 degrees above the equator in Tunisia compared to a paltry 53 here.

Just wondering what sort of Magnification I would need to start seeing the surface details?

Bart.

When I was looking at Mars - and bear in mind it was my first time looking at it through a scope - I had my 9.7mm eyepiece in, which gives a magnification of 209x. I tried lower mag. but could see very little. The problem with Mars is just how small the disc is. At it's best later this year, it'll only be as big as the disc of Saturn and with this it will be fairly low over the horizon. As a result, the atmospheric conditions will determine how much power you will be able to use and thus the level of detail. However, having said all that, I'm gonna take every oppurtunity I get to look at this amazing planet!

I got a good view of Mars on the morning of the 6th of July (Sunday). A polar cap was clearly visible, and some darker markings (this was at 4.30 in the morning so the sky was blue). I used a 26mm eyepiece which gives a magnification of 116x.Im, hoping that tonight (Saturday the 12 July) with the clear sky, I can get a better look, time to let the scope cool down. I was amazed at how big mars had become in the last 6 weeks, It looks like it has nearly doubled in size.