I am still trying to find the right sketching technique to record Mars. Sketching under a faint red light is never easy especially if apart from the sketching pad you need to hold graphite pencils, a blender, a graphite stick and an erasor shield. So the more complicated the technique is the less practical it becomes. One needs to find a balance between the two.
It was rather unfortunate that surface of Mars did not show too much detail except for the NPC, Mare Cimmerium, Mare Sirenium and Mare Boreum surrounding the North Polar Cap. According to members of marsobservers yahoo group, CCD images of Mars are showing some streaking in the polar cap.
The seeing conditions tonight where far from ideal. There was slight to moderate wind, cloud patches and the weather is under the influence of low pressure system with neighbouring high jet streams. Through the eyepiece Mars was most of the time fuzzy and was difficult to identify any other surface features in the polar cap or in Mesogaea region.
Below is the original sketch next to an intensity sketch.
