Sketch of Mars 07 December 2020 - what features did I observe?

Hi All,

With some clear spells this evening I attempted to sketch Mars. As many of you are aware the planet is quickly receding. Consequently, it is becoming more difficult to see features on Mars. However, with my f/5 250mm Newtonian Reflector on a Dobsonain base I did observe several shaded areas on the Red Planet this evening.

These shaded areas can be found on the sketch below. Since, sketching the planet, I have looked through several maps of Mars, but the best I can do is to provide a rough guess of what I saw through the eyepiece tonight.

Although the sketch is far from perfect, I'm hoping there is enough information in it to have someone cast some light on what I recorded this evening.

Other details from this evening's session include:

Time: 20:12 - 20:53 UT
Location: Dundrum, Dublin,
Seeing: 5Pk
Transparency: 5
Eyepiece: 6mm (AFOV 66°)

Materials used 2B pencil, eraser, an eraser shield, A4 170gsm sketching pad paper. The image was scanned into GIMP where it was colourized, and resized.

Very many thanks for taking the time to read the above post, and as always your comments and feedback are very much welcomed.

Clear skies,

Darren.

Very nice drawing Darren, all I can say is that’s what it looked like to me last Thursday night through the C9.25.

Hi Darren

Use this to determine the view at the time you observed Mars. I  set it  by - 1 day and then + 4 hours for just after midnight this morning. I think you will find it will match your drawing quite well

britastro.org/node/23843

Stevie

Hi Darren.

I have it now.

You have Mare Serpentis to the upper left.
The central part of Mars you have Sinus Sabaeus and Sinus Meridiani.

www.sky&telescope.com has a Mars Profiler.
Subsequently all important Martian features are named using that link.
To find the Mars Profiler go to the Homepage.
Click on Tools and scroll down to Mars Profiler: Which side is visible?

And you are in.

Very best regards,

Aubrey.

Hello Donal, Stevie, and Aubrey,

Very many thanks for your messages. 

Donal delighted to read that you had a similar view the other night... Sometimes I think I'm seeing things when trying to pick out details on Mars. 

That link is extremely helpful Stevie, it is the type of thing I was looking for last night. It will certainly help me develop my geographical knowledge of Mars... Thanks a million. 

Aubrey you're a star  

Some of the gents over on cloudy nights have also helped today, but you're the first one to 'nail your colours to the mast'. After cross referencing my basic sketch against many of the resources that people like Stevie have sent through I'm in agreement with you on what I believe I observed last night. However, I reckon that those two finger like objects may be Mare Sabaeus and Serpentis, which would mean that I probably observed parts of the Iapygia quadrangle?  Feel free to correct me though.

Also very many thanks for providing those instructions for the skyandtelescope Web page... Very helpful indeed! 

And 'thank you' to those who liked the sketch! 

I've another one coming... I've just returned from the front driveway after spending some time with Mars. More about that tomorrow! 

Clear skies to all, 

Darren.