USER OBSERVATIONS Last updated: 15 September 2003

Subject:	Mars through Meade ETX 70AT
Sent:	Sunday, September 7, 2003 16:02:34
From:	ppeters1@gte.net (Paul Peterson)
On Aug.30th I was at a Public Viewing session hosted by the Texas
Astronomical Society of Dallas. I had set up my ETX-70AT to view open
clusters as I usually do at these events since there are other scopes
there that are more suitable for Mars. We had small crowd because of
weather conditions, but still had some excellent views of objects near
the zenith and of Mars. After the crowd had left, I aimed my ETX at Mars
just to see how it would do. I used a 10mm Orion Sirius Plossl eyepiece
with the Meade #126 Barlow to give a magnification of about 70x. I was
blown away. Not only could I see the polar icecap clearly, I was also
able to make out some surface detail. Just to make sure that I wasn't
imagining things, I had several other people confirm what I was seeing.
I then borrowed a 3mm Teleview Radian for a magnification of 116x. Due
to the excellent seeing at the time, we were able to pick up even more
detail. I don't plan on buying a Radian for this use however. I have a
problem spending almost as much for an eyepiece as I did for the scope I
plan on using it on <grin>.

I have also gotten some excellent views of Saturn and Jupiter through
this scope with quite a bit of detail. So while it would not be my first
choice for a planetary scope, under good conditions the ETX-70 CAN give
you very nice views of the planets.

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