The sky in the late evening was a bit clear after several days of cloudiness and rain and I was able to finally observe and image Mars for the first time since 2003! I set up the scope in the laundry area around 10:45pm to let the scope cool down before I attempted any image on the red planet. I started to image Mars after midnight and seeing was a little bit better than the early part of the evening where I can see Mars like a jelly bean with the air turbulence. Seeing improves a bit after midnight and I was able to image Mars under poor seeing but without the jelly bean effect.
Syrtis Major is the prominent feature near the central meridian with the north polar cap region clearly visible even at low power. I can see some bright white clouds near Hyblaeus Extension as well as beside Syrtis Major.
Amid the not so good imaging session, I was still happy with the results as this is the first time again that I was able to image Mars again and I hope to do more imaging session as opposition nears on March 4.
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