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  #1  
Old 08-11-2003, 04:25 PM
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Cool Aug. 27th: Mars closer to the Earth than it has been in 5,000 years!

This is copied from the Miami Herald:


Red Planet will be as near to Earth's orbit as it has been in at least 5,000 years
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@herald.com

On Aug. 27, Mars will be 'only' 34,646,418 miles away.

Talk about once-in-a-lifetime visits: During the next few weeks, our planetary neighbor -- Mars -- glides ever closer, ultimately making its nearest approach to Earth in all of recorded history.

''The last time people looked up and saw this, Neanderthal man saw it,'' said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the planetarium at the Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium. ``This is going to be so stunning.''

The reason: By Aug. 27, Mars will be ''only'' 34,646,418 miles away, pretty much the galactic equivalent of idling in our driveway. With a little bit of luck, the view will be spectacular.

And you don't have to wait until the end of the month. Mars already is much closer and appears much brighter and larger in the southeast sky than it did at the beginning of July, when it was 52 million miles away.

Observers have been giving the light show glowing reviews. Astronomers say you have never seen anything like this. Neither have your parents. Or their parents. Or . . . well, you get the idea.

All experts agree that Mars hasn't been this close in at least 5,000 years. Most astronomical calculations raise those estimates to 59,619 years.

''I've already been watching, and over the next several weeks it will be getting bigger and brighter,'' said astronomer David Menke of Plantation, former director of the Buehler Planetarium on the Broward Community College campus in Davie. ``It will just be fabulous.''

GRAVITATIONAL DUET

Every day brings Mars closer, the result of a gravitational duet around the sun that produces neighborly visits every 26 months but rarely such close encounters.

The condition that will occur on Aug. 27 is called ''opposition'' -- when the sun, Earth and Mars form a straight line, bringing Mars and Earth relatively close.

But the elliptical orbits of planets make some oppositions closer than others.

This one is so close that sky watchers using nothing but their eyes might be able to tell if Mars is awash in dust storms. It turns out that the Red Planet is not always so red, especially when viewed from Earth.

''If it appears to be mostly gold with no hint of ruby whatsoever, you're probably seeing a dust storm on the planet,'' Horkheimer said.

''If you see a hint of red with the naked eye, you're seeing the surface,'' he said.

And if you use even an inexpensive, 100-power telescope, you might be able to discern Mars' southern ice cap -- though Earth's shimmering atmosphere often frustrates viewers.

Long a source of fascination for Earthlings, Mars continues to intrigue scientists, who have recently determined that the ice cap is made from water rather than frozen carbon dioxide.

That, of course, raises profound new questions: How much water once existed on Mars? How much still exists underground? What does this imply about the prospect of life on Mars?

SCIENTIFIC PROBES

A new squadron of scientific probes -- including two ground rovers -- is en route to the planet, and experts hope the devices will help unravel some of these mysteries. In addition, visionaries still muse about human colonization of Earth's closest planetary neighbor.

''Mars has always captured our imaginations,'' said Menke, who teaches at Coral Springs High School. ``Its blood-red color made it representative of the god of war and there's always been a lot of folk lore associated with Mars.''

So, you'll probably want to catch this opportunity rather than wait for the next ''perfect opposition'' of Earth and Mars.

That one comes along on Aug. 28 . . . 2287.

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  #2  
Old 08-11-2003, 05:20 PM
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Actually, it's been alot longer than that:

Quote:
This year's opposition is superior to all the others in nearly 60,000 years because Mars will be very near its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) when coming to opposition. Such "perihelic oppositions" of Mars are rather infrequent, occurring about every 15 to 17 years.
That's from this website:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=4&u=/space/20030808/sc_space/seemarsamere186lightsecondsaway

I got a telescope for my birthday this year, mostly because I've always wanted one, and partly because of this Mars approach being so close.
So far I've enjoyed it, but I'm not getting much Mars detail yet, no icecaps or anything, but seeing the moons of Jupiter is pretty neat, and also seeing the moon craters is too. It's a Orion 70mm refractor on a equatorial mount.

Gilly
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Old 08-12-2003, 04:02 PM
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Gilly,

I had my scope out last Friday night. Mars was HUGE! The last couple of years, Mars was either too small or covered with dust storms to see much. My scope is a little bigger, and my viewing conditions may be better so I saw the polar cap and some nice surface detail. Go here for a Mars previewer to see what Mars should look like at any particular time, and it will help you pick out detail. Seeing detail on Mars and Jupiter are the holy grails of telescopedom and it takes fine optics, a sturdy mount and great conditions.

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_997_1.asp#


glenmore
1991 300CE
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  #4  
Old 08-12-2003, 04:09 PM
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you guys are lucky. the jet stream hasn't budged in ages and we've had nothing but cloudy nights all summer. i have a nice ortho lens for planetary viewing that gets me to about 140x with an 80mm refractor. they are saying it's brighter than jupe right now!
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Last edited by jsmith; 08-14-2003 at 09:56 AM.
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  #5  
Old 08-12-2003, 04:49 PM
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I'd say it is brighter than Jupiter now.
I can't make out any detail with my 70mm refractor though, unless there's maybe alot of dust storms on Mars right now, it just looks like a pale golden-yellow ball, no features at all. maybe I shoulda got a larger reflector scope instead, I thought a refractor would be better to start out with.
When the nights get longer this fall, hopefully i can get in more viewing, still waiting to see anything really interesting besides the moon. Any good suggestions?

Gilly
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  #6  
Old 08-12-2003, 05:08 PM
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gilly,

lots of factors that could affect your viewing. a refractor will generally give you a sharper image specially for planetary viewing. even if it's clear if the "seeing" isn't good then you won't see much either. cooler weather, when there is less atmoshperic disturbance is usually best.
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  #7  
Old 08-13-2003, 03:40 PM
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Gilly,

You won’t be able to see much with a typical 70mm refractor. It also depends a whole lot on where you live. I am in light polluted Southern California so that even the relatively bright Orion Nebula doesn’t look like much. Although light polluted, we do have pretty steady skies for the planets. (Close by Mt. Wilson observatory is a big clue.) Sometimes when the air is steady and the LA basin is covered with a marine layer, the planets are spectacular. Saturn and Jupiter seasons are the best. I can routinely see the A,B, and C rings of Saturn and the shadow of the ball on the rings. On Jupiter you can see the Great Red Spot (actually just a pale salmon color), lots of swirls of cloud activity, and transits of the moons and shadows of the moons across the face. This coupled with the fact that most of my observing sessions are relatively brief and from my deck or backyard makes a refractor the best for me. Plus I just like refractors! If you are in an area of rapidly dropping night time temperatures, and you have only brief sessions, any decent sized mirror in your reflector will take hours to thermally stabilize and may not ever stabilize enough for good views. I only occassionally go out to star parties. There I’ll train my scope on the planets, or use widefield eyepieces for cruising the Milky Way star clouds and then just use somebody else’s big reflector for the faint stuff. So if your area is too light polluted and your observing sessions are brief and you don’t like to set up and fuss with equipment, a nice refractor would be best. A nice used 4” (102mm) Takahashi FS102 refractor can be had for (what I think is a bargain price) about $1500. New 4” refractors (Televue, TMB, Astro-Physics) run $3500+. A nice equatorial mount and eyepieces would add a couple of thousand more. Definitely shop used equipment from the one and only astromart.com. You can get all sorts of stuff here with the retail wrung out of the prices. The Takahashi refractor is among one of the best, and it is bargain priced only because it is an older model and they are relatively plentiful. Good optics hold their value. If you were able to buy a nice Tak for $1500 and you took good care of it, you could probably use it for a year and still sell it for $1500. Buy some nice used Televue eyepieces, use them for awhile and do the same. Most used astronomy equipment is just barely used. My refractor has actually gone up in value mostly because if I were to put an order in for one today, I’d probably get it in about 4 years.

Clear skies,

glenmore
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155mm/f7 Astro-Physics refractor
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Old 08-13-2003, 05:05 PM
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Glenmore:

Probably not much you can't already tell me about my scope, but here's a link to what I have:

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=5154&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=13&iProductID=5154

I'm happy enough with it, this whole Mars thing is kind of a downer, not being able to see any detail so far, even with the 10mm eyepiece.But I'll keep trying, as was already mentioned, maybe I need a better night for viewing, and with the website that was provided, I'll know more what to look for, so it may help.
So far I've just seen Mars and Jupiter, including 4 of the moons.
Looking forward to Saturn, I don't think it's visible right now in the evenings, is it? This Winter I think is when we see that, or no?

It was bought on a budget, for the price I think it's OK.

Would I be able to see details on Mars, for example, with my 70mm refractor if I had a different/better eyepiece, or is aperature my only real problem?

Gilly
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Old 08-13-2003, 06:03 PM
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i haven't used my scope in a couple of years and i'm rusty with the formulas. you would need a magnification in the neighborhood of 150x for planetary detail.

telescope math

filters can also be of help and are relatively inexpensive. this is from an often quoted article on the subject:

for Mars:

#25 Red passes the predominant reflections of surface plains and maria, and #21 Orange is good for reducing the intense glare to enhance detail and mottling. The polar caps stand out with #15 Deep Yellow and #80A Medium Blue; examine the melt lineswith #58 Green.
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Last edited by jsmith; 08-14-2003 at 09:57 AM.
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Old 08-13-2003, 11:55 PM
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dang, you made me take my scope out tonite! in spite of the usual crummy skies i did manage to see what appeared to be a polar cap with the dark areas as shown in the links above. couldn't get a very high mag but at around 140X it was ok. best view was using the blue filter as the article suggested....
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Last edited by jsmith; 08-14-2003 at 09:57 AM.
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Old 08-15-2003, 10:51 AM
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Gilly,

Seeing fine detail on Mars is never easy, but this will be your best chance!

A few basics. Set your scope out early so it can thermally stabilize. Don’t set up where you are viewing directly over someones radiating roof. Tighten up your mount as best you can. A wobbly mount or cranky focuser will try anyones patience. This is the great thing about refractors, just plop it out an hour or two before the optimum time. Optimum viewing will be a little before and little after the planet reaches zenith. Unfortunately this is still pretty late, but getting earlier in the evening as we get to the end of August. Pick a night in and around new moon or when the moon sets early. Hope for a clear and steady night. Windy is no good. A light fog is a good indication of very still air. For the planets, it is best to have a range of eyepieces. Don’t laugh, but I have pairs of 7,8,9,10,11,12.5, 15 and 19mm eyepieces for my binoviewer. The other night was pretty steady so I was able to use 7-8mm (170-200x). But usually I’m around 11-15mm (90-120x). Start at a lower power and increase as the seeing/image allows. Aperture will certainly help but a range of eyepieces enabling you to use the highest power for whatever viewing conditions is very important also, i.e. if my skies are allowing the use of 9mm for 150x, and all I have are 19mm (70x) and 6mm (225x). The 19mm will give a sharp but small image and the 6mm would a blurry mess.

You can live vicariously thru these amazing amateur photos.

Check out the Mars photos!!!!

http://www.buytelescopes.com/gallery/gallery.asp?sg=1

Yup, Saturn and Jupiter are not up now.

Clear skies,

glenmore
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  #12  
Old 08-15-2003, 12:20 PM
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hey glenmore,

sounds like you got top of the line stuff! i'm just using an f7 80mm with a japanese lens on it. i also have a 5" SCR which i rarely use - bad light pollution where i live. last night would have been great with the blackout except i was exhausted :p
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Old 08-15-2003, 02:16 PM
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jsmith,

We had a big earthquake (IIRC 1992) that shook everyone out of bed at 5am. Knocked out just about all the lights in the LA and San Fernando Valley basins. You looked up and you could see stars and the Milky Way like never before.

glenmore
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  #14  
Old 08-17-2003, 12:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by glenmore
You looked up and you could see stars and the Milky Way like never before.
I still love to drive out to the country-- say, Front Royal VA-- to look up in awe at the Milky Way running clear accross the sky!

Kinda puts you in place and everything else in perspective for a little while.

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1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
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