Dialing in the Red Planet

Man, Mars is getting better. Or maybe its just the scope. This week I plugged in the colimator, I realized the 2 dots I thought I'd been seeing were actually 3, the third one way out in left field. I adjusted the mirror so the alignment was right, and as good as everything was looking now its so much better. Seeing sooo much more with Jupiter, and the last two drawings of Mars are a big improvement over the first few.


The one common point is in all observations since the 13th the dark area surrounding the ice cap has been as obvious as the ice cap itself. I've described the task of drawing beyond that as trying to remember a dream. Details seem to whisp in and out, necessitating repetitive visual study of the surface to confirm and re-confirm what you THINK you see. In one case I did three rough sketches, the final drawing only happened after I saw those 3 roughs were pretty similar. Sort of like the idea of recreating an event by consulting several witnesses! In the end though patterns start to emerge. Last night was the biggest exception, that was like remembering a dream you were still having when somebody woke you up! The details seemed far easier to visualize then over the past week.   Steve Gale