Image taken Utime=04:13, Udate=10/29/05, Mars CM=291.4d in reasonably steady seeing conditions. This is when Mars is about at its closest for this opposition and can show the most detail. Here you can just barely see the last of the south polar cap (at about 1 -2 o'clock) - got to look carefully though. The large wedge shaped area in the middle is called Syrtis Major. At the bottom left is haze that covers the north polar cap where it is the middle of winter on Mars.

You may well wonder why I show the south polar cap at the top! It's for historical reasons. Many telescopes (especially those used in the past) invert the image so astronomers (and amateur astronomers) got used to seeing the moon/planets/etc. upside down. It still looks better to me that way though North up is now the 'official standard' way of showing Mars.