0030 and the clouds have cleared away exposing Mars riding high in the east. I couldn't help myself so I grabbed the 80mm and my planetary eyepieces.

Pretty good!

This was the first serious Mars observation of this season. I was working at 150x with a 56 Salmon filter. Albedo features were easy to see now that the disc is large enough to get some real work done. The 56 filter by Vernonscope was definitely superior to the Televue type B Mars filter. I have never been crazy about the glass flats and coatings on the Televue filters. The Vernonscope is clearly superior. The Hellas Basin and Mare Tyrrhennium were easy to see. The dichotomy of the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere was quite clearly seen. Mars is an odd planet with two very distinct halves.

Seeing was not too bad. Maybe better than at the planetarium . Mars is perfect from the porch, riding very high in the east and passing overhead late at night. I figured the 80mm would be fine as you mostly see albedo features and less detail on Mars. I tried a Takahashi TOE 3.3mm but that was a bit much power for the seeing. Things were happier with a 2.4x Dakon Barlow and the Baader 10mm ortho. That gives a bit more than 150X.  Quite happy with my first serious start to Mars tonight.