Good to hear from you, David. Perhaps you can have some time on Mars yourself some time soon. It is my favourite planet at present.
I should have said for first time observers of Mars that the dark features I observed last night were Syrtis Major and Sinus Sabeaus. I hadn't seen Syrtis Major since September 2003 when Mars was closest to the Earth for all time -less than 35 million miles away. This time it appeared almost black on the equator, and Sinus Sabeaus was a dark curved line heading for the eastern limb. The bright features were the very small North Polar Cap in the 1 o'clock position, and Hellas was very large on the southern limb -bigger and brighter on the 7 o'clock position. It acted like a south polar cap.
As Mars is now steadily shrinking, our magnifications may increase beyond 300X. However, it will climb higher in the sky. Mars can take it. We should see Syrtis Major for another 5 or 6 days. I do have an old book written by Patrick Moore about Mars, and an observer called Christian Huygens observed Syrtis Major through a telescope back in 1659. Real history is amazing!
Aubrey.
  