Mars this morning

I finally got an opportunity to observe Mars last night / this morning.
Whoa it's small!
(Yeah its soooo small ! 7.7''.
The image below was taken through the ETX125 using a 2XBarlow and resized in registax by 150%. (!)
I was just getting it centered in the 5X Powermate when the clouds rolled in.
Through the 5x there was defiantly a bit of detail on the surface and the
white polar cap seemed smaller than with the 2x ?

Still, it was really nice to see this planet for the first time and there is a little bit of a phase also visible (86%)

Heres to good weather later on in the year so I can try the 5x again.

The shot is a stack of 4 seperate final images in registax
(eg, the 4 resulting images from 4, 2min avi's)





any advice or hints on how to get the most out of this little rock are welcome.


I was also playing around with the Canon 350D taking a few wide field shots...







again, any comments welcome.

A good capture there Frank,
This is certainly a small little planet, the polar cap looks a bigger then before, maybe like the last apparition it will shrink in time, it'll be interesting to keep an eye on it over the coming months.

As for capturing help, I consider this the toughest of the usual suspect of planets to get (barring Uranus and Neptune here).
An IR blocking filter is considered essential for this one which you already have if I remember rightly.

Yip I do.
I know I've said it before but the ETX-125 is a mighty little beast of a scope.
Especially for the Planets & Moon.
(and Sun I guess with the right filters!)

I'm looking forward to seeing what I can get out of it when Mars gets nearer
as the year progresses.