Elysium on Mars

I have just come in from having a most brilliant night with Mars. My most comfortable magnification was once again 280X. At this power, I observed the North Polar Cap, Syrtis Major, Mare Tyrrhenum, Mare Cimmerium, and a small piece of Hellas at the south pole. Utopia was seen quite strong below the North Polar Cap also.
But what took my breath away was seeing a bright round white oval patch below Utopia. It is Elysium. I am very much staggered that it is possible to pick up this elusive feature. I definitely have never observed it before in my life! Hopefully someone else saw it, or even imaged it.
I can also see that Mars is moving up to the direction of double star Porrima. The star is easily visible with the unaided eye, and can be split at 112X and 140X in my 6.2 apo.

Aubrey.

I also spent some time observing Mars last night, just from my back garden. It was quite misty in Belfast, and this helped to dim down the harsh glare I have seen when trying to observe the planet over the last few weeks. In fact, a patch of thin high cloud passed over at one point, and this helped even more.

The (quite small) northern polar cap was seen, as was Syrtis Major, Mare Tyrrhenum and Utopia. I did not notice Elysium.

I was using the Nexstar 6se, and the best views were with the Meade UWA 8.8mm, giving a magnification of around 166x, and especially with the Meade UWA 14mm + 2x barlow, giving around 214x. I tried the 5.5mm Meade UWA, but it was a mushy mess.

Far and away the best view of the planet this year.

Hi, Stevie. I don't if you and I met at Cosmos 2014. But I thank you for your report. I could only see Elysium at 225X and 280X. It helps to have a 6.2" apochromatic refractor. Elysium is a bright region quite a bit north of Mare Cimmerium. I would not have identified it were it not for Guide 8 and the Mars Profiler on www.skyandtelescope.com . I have yet to verify whether it had clouds on top of it -it is a highland on the surface of Mars.

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey.

I suppose that, overall, my view last night was a tale of two halves.

The left side of the planet, ie the area to the left of Syrtis Major, was rather bland. The" left" side of both Utopia and Mare Cimmerium were not well defined.

However, the areas to the right hand side of Syrtis Major in my view were brighter, and the Hellas area, below Syrtis Major, was seen as a brighter area.

It was also noticable that the whole view of the planet, as compared to the Mars profiler on S&T, was distinctly leaning to the right, so that the northern polar cap (or spot, to be more accurate in its description) was at roughly the one o'clock position.

The thing which struck me the most was how small the polar cap was, compared to previous views in past years.

A 6" refractor is quite a scope, although I have always enjoyed good planetary views in my Nexstar 6se. My mate in work, who is a refractor nut, has got his heart set on an Altair Astro Starwave 152mm, which is why he is selling his 10" dob (see the buy and sell section). He has a perfectly good 5" Skywatcher at the moment, but, well, you know how it is.

Anyway, it was good to read your report, and now Paul's as well. It seems he definitely saw cloud cover in the area you are talking about.

I also had a great view last night using a 12" and seen the feature you are talking about,but i thought it was Olympus Mons with cloud cover.

Paul

Thank you, Stevie, for coming back to me. I used to own reflectors and enjoyed them very much. But the last one I had was on a equatorial pillar mount and I am getting on in years. The tube weighed 5 stone and the mount was quite a bit heavier. This is why I changed over to a refractor. And it is perfect for me. (You now know why).

I am delighted Paul was successful in seeing Elysium in his 12". Thank you, Paul. Do you have a Schmidt Cassegrain or Dobsonian, Paul? However I do feel vindicated. We had no clear breaks last night in Dublin. And tonight Saturday we have rain. I must try and find out if Elysium has clouds on top of it. Perhaps that is why it is visible. I have a couple of websites to check into.

Aubrey.