Mars on July 9, 2018 in Capricornus
The Hidden Dark-Markings of Mars
The last couple of nights have been clear but until this morning I could not get the atmosphere
to calm down enough to attempt a drawing of Mars. This morning Mars held, for short periods
of time, steady at high magnification. The global dust storm continues to obscure the
dark-markings on the planet. Only ghostly views of Syrtis Major, Iapygia, Sinus Meridiani and
Sinus Sabaeus could be made out. Note that these marking in the drawing are more obvious
than they were visually and took time to tease out at the eyepiece. A dark edge to the South
Pole was evident (south is up in the drawing) and the pole itself showed signs of the dust
storm.
to calm down enough to attempt a drawing of Mars. This morning Mars held, for short periods
of time, steady at high magnification. The global dust storm continues to obscure the
dark-markings on the planet. Only ghostly views of Syrtis Major, Iapygia, Sinus Meridiani and
Sinus Sabaeus could be made out. Note that these marking in the drawing are more obvious
than they were visually and took time to tease out at the eyepiece. A dark edge to the South
Pole was evident (south is up in the drawing) and the pole itself showed signs of the dust
storm.