For anyone who might be new to Mars I should clarify a few observations when talking about Mars. Experienced folks may ignore this if you have looked at Mars for some time.
When I say I saw places like Hellas, Syrtis Major, or other places on Mars you can't expect to see things with the detail you can on the moon. On the moon you can see the actual structural features, much like a pen and ink drawing. Mars is quite different. What you see there are pastel shades of say an Impressionist painting (smeared by seeing). No hard lines and certainly no craters and such. It is just too small and far away. Astro photos can fool you when you observe visually. They show detail unobtainable to the human eye using amateur telescopes of moderate size. Mars maps by say NASA are not much help either.
The trick is to find a map or image that shows the general location on the planet of some reflection (albedo) feature and what the colors look like at the eyepiece. Good examples are the poles that stand out easily because they are so reflective. But the Hellas Basin is also light colored, big, and located at what could easily be mistaken as a pole. So to observe Mars some homework is sort of required. In large part the game is to figure out "what am I seeing"?
Seeing is really important here as it easily smears out subtle shadings. Filters are also required to make out the subtle shadings. Know what to expect prior to going to the eyepiece. Dress warm :)
But that's what makes Mars observing fun. Don't get discouraged if you look and go "what is he talking about"? Mars is worth the effort when you do get the magic moment and you know what you are looking for. There was a long line of very talented observers, with very big telescopes, who spent their lives chasing this planet and still didn't get it right but they had a heck of a trip.
