Mars is getting really close to 2016 opposition, the best in the last 10 years, since it’s very close to earth.
Weather in Milan wasn’t great these days, so me and Alessia tried to catch the first night offering a clear sky and a possibly good seeing.

We were pretty much lucky: seeing wasn’t the top, with mars being very low on the horizon, but it was good enough to get a proper look: we were able to distinguish a few major features, particularly when it began to rise a little bit over 20°.
I also took a few pictures, this is the best result, shown here with a Stellarium simulation for that day and hour.

First shot of Mars, close to 2016 opposition.

Mediocre seeing, I used infrared pass filter instead of the usual IR blocking, to enhance details and block out most of the atmospheric turbulence.

I also used an extender with my 2.5 barlow to increase focal length up to over 7000mm.

We observed also Saturn, getting close to its own opposition too, although even lower in the horizon than Mars, and Jupiter, still quite high and bright in the sky.
At the eyepiece, it was impressive: the great read spot was particularly evident, and a satellite (we later identified it being Europa) was getting closer and closer to the planet disk.
When I started shooting with my camera it was already over Jupiter, and it’s visible as the bright spot in the left part of the planet.

While targeting Mars, I was also able to try a few shots on Jupiter.

Seeing wasn't too good, so the image resolution is not great, but the Great Red Spot is clearly visible, as well as Europa just passing in front of Jupiter's disk.

Although the images are not as good as I was hoping, it was a very nice evening, we could finally have a good couple of hours doing astronomy, and it was a relief after a long time being unable to observe due to bad weather.