Mars night two was a tougher cookie tonight.
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Looking at the stars I knew it was going to be a tougher night than last night and I was not disappointed. I started at 10 and observed Mars for two hours. This is exhausting work.10 was too early and Mars too low. I could see more or a lot less what I saw last night but only in vague moments. The nice thing about Mars is that with a bit different rotation than us you see mostly the same on consecutive nights so you have a clue. Started with the same combo but results were a bit rougher. Deimos was not to be seen as I expected in poor seeing. Forget Phoebos, that is way to dim and close to the planet.
Around midnight things got a bit better with Mars getting higher on the sky. Still tough. I decided to use a trick I have used before on tough planet observations. Normally if the seeing is bad reduce power but on planets you can try going up higher. You sacrifice the nice view but what you are waiting for is that fleeting moment when it comes good and the planet is bigger in the view so you can see what you are looking for more easily before it disappears again. I went to the Takahashi TOE 3.3mm which gets me up to 200 something+. That actually helped in good moments. I was able to get fleeting views of what I saw last night though only for micro seconds. I (may or may not) have seen Deimos for only a split second twice in two hours of effort. Not quite as sure tonight. You had to not look at all for it during the bad moments but then the moment the planet snapped into focus expand your vision. I think I sighted it twice in the same spot but would not swear to it.
Two hours on one object is tough work (impossible work for Kent :) ). Exhausting. But nice big views for a second or two. Had to use a fair amount of eye drops to keep the orb moist. A side effect of eye surgery.
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