23 December 2024 and 7 January 2025

 On 23 December, the sky was mostly clear for a change so at about 21:30MST decided to try for Mars.  I waited until then because that would put it about 10 degrees above the mountains to our east. The temperature was 33deg F, RH 82%, and some frost was starting to form. Got aligned using the 24mm reticle eyepiece, then moved to the 17mm Plossl, then the 17mm with the 2x Barlow. A high thin layer of clouds moved in before I could get focused. it obscured most of the stars. It obscured most stars, and Mars wasn't discernible. Jupiter could be located by eye, but was just a fuzzy ball. I packed up at 22:30.

7 January was a little different. We had our first clear night in  several days, so I thought I'd try for Mars again. Set up at 20:30MST, temp was 27deg F. Moon was waxing gibbous, about 63% illuminated. There was a few inches of snow on the ground. Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were all visible and bright.. Transparency was fair. There was a lot of moisture in the air from the snow. The sky was very bright from moonlight reflecting off of the snow. Unfortunately, the seeing was about the worst I have seen here. I estimated Antoniadi IV and V. The IV was in rare fleeting moments. I attempted to make a sketch of Mars, but was only able to occasionally make out  make out a bloated and wobbly polar cap. The entire image tended to be very wobbly and the shape wavering "blobs". I rarely thought I might see some shading, but the seeing was so unsteady that I couldn't be sure.

I tried looking at the Moon, the outer edge was"boiling" furiously. I tried the 17mm Plossl with the Barlow, but the image was too unsteady to support the magnification. I was going to try the 13mm, but dropped it in the snow! Not a very good night of observing, but as always I learned from the experience. This was the first time I made a strong effort to quantify seeing. I also learned to be very careful with eyepieces!


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