I stopped by SPOC last evening to drop some stuff off in the Refractor House. It was so cloudy I really didn't expect anyone to be there so I was surprised to find Dave Bernson, Nate Goodman and Dave and Kevin Hays there with the Grim Scope open. About the only thing showing through the clouds was Mars and that's what they were looking at. And the view was great! North polar cap and a lot of other surface features plainly visible (hopefully Dave B will chime in here with the names of those features). They kept pushing the magnification up and eventually topped out at 550. I really didn't think the seeing would support that kind of magnification but I guess the clouds and lack of wind made for a very steady atmosphere as even at 550 the view was steady and clear. At Advanced Training after Dave talked about maybe trying again tonight (Sunday). Dave if you decide to do that be sure and send out a SLAS Blast. And if we do get in some Mars viewing tonight I'll be better prepared as I just downloaded this really spiffy program to my iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mars-atlas/id303482394?mt=8 Clear (albiet mooney) skies! patrick