Mars

Caught my first look at Mars through the telescope on Monday night about 11pm.
Observed two dark areas Marto has in his photograph, nice shot,not sure what areas they are? Maybe someone can tell me.

Unfortunately unable to spot polar cap,unlike the last opposition 2 years ago ,probably melting as Martian summer approach.
Telescope flt132 5inch refractor,various eyepieces.

Forgot to add spotted Sombrero galaxy,just!, and two little star clusters in Corvus leading to it, nickname stargate and jaws! Lovely.

Star clusters and Sombrero visible in same field using 2inch 33 mm eyepiece into 925 focal length.

One for the anoraks!

According to Guide 8, to the north was the dark area Mare Acidalium. To its south, around the equator, is the famous Chryse region which is bright beige. It is famous because Viking 1 landed in it in 1977. Then to its south was a very large dark area all the way to the south pole. This was Margaritifier Sinus and Aurorae Sinus.
I hope all that helps, John. Well done to everybody for great Mars observation. We must keep getting all our scopes on the Red planet.

Aubrey.