Observed last night with the 12.5-inch. I was hoping to catch Ganymede exiting occultation and then entering eclipse by Jupiter's shadow, but the planet has gotten too low now to see it past 10pm. It's too bad. But, it will come back.
Had a look at Mars and noted some nice detail. Seeing was average, so I was pushing it at 340x (with apodising screen and planetary filter). Aureorae Sinus was the darkest feature, reaching down from the Mare Eryrhraeum as a semi-dark expanse, wisping out to Solis Lacus. There was an irregular edge below Solis Lacus which was Valles Marineris. There appeared to be some white ice cap along the upper limb. To the north Niliacus Lacus swelled up; some mottling along its edge was Nilokeras.
I tried Saturn too. Cassini division was certain but did fuzz out with seeing. Colors were nice, even with the sickly green of the polar region. Before packing in (a short session as I was tired) I went down to 170x, no filter or screen, and had quite a sharp and pleasing view. All the detail was there, it was only smaller and needed more attention to find. There's a lesson there; pushing extremes doesn't always get you results.
I had spent the evening painting the comet sweeper tube. I want to finish the tube this week so I can focus on the mount this weekend.
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