Albedo features are quite easy to see tonight as Mars gets high in the sky. The Hellas basin and Mare Tyrrenium are easily seen as is Syrtis Major. I am using my 80mm F10 with a Takahashi 3.3 TOE eyepiece giving me 227X. This is ideal for a long focal length refactor. About 70x per inch of aperture. Also using a Televue type B Mars filter to enhance contrast. Seeing is about 8.5 out of 10.

Mars will soon be at opposition so it is about as big as it is going to get this year. Since the dust storm settled down the observing has been improving. Not a bad Mars year as I initially feared.