It was during a desert storm during November of 1990 that I stumbled on a revolutionary new technique for observing Mars. Shown below is a drawing on 1990 Nov 13/14 00:30 UT. Everything is clear and fine (figure one). By Nov 18/19 at 06:40 UT things had changed however: A desert storm was obscuring most of Mars, so it was totally featureless (like figure two).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Just as I was completing the Nov 18/19 drawing, I accidently sprayed some Dristan Mist all over my eyepiece as I was preparing to relieve myself of my cold symptoms. Since I had no tissues with me, I left the eyepiece as it was, injected myself olfactorally, and continued observing. What I saw left me speechless: Mars was extensively and crisply detailed, just as it appeared in the second sketch (figure two). In particular, all of its Sinus passages (like my own) had been miraculously cleared up! Only Syrtis Major remained obscured. As I watched over the next several minutes, Mars gradually resumed its featureless appearance. Incredible! Dristan Mist can be used to enhance planetary observing!

Eager to test my discovery, I leaned closer to the eyepiece, closer even than the eye relief of the ocular required. I held up the bottle of Dristan Mist and squeezed. The sinuses on Mars instantly cleared up. All trace of the clearing effect disappared within 5 minutes 28 seconds. I have since determined that Dristan 12 Hour Mist increases the duration of clearing by a factor of 3 and that the quantity of Dristan requred is directly proportional to the aperture of the instrument in use. I am now working on a paper that explains the physics of this Dristan Effect.

In conclusion, I have discovered that Dristan Mist can be successfully used to enhance detail in visual planetary observation, particularly with regard to the Martian sinus areas.