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Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 8/5/2003 9:49 AM (GMT -6)

The Red Planet is about to become a spectacular sight! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to
within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be the brightest except for
the moon in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye! Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10:00 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3:00 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise
at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren!

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 8/27/2003 11:26 AM (GMT -6)

Tonight's the big night! They say that if you use binoculars you can actually see Mars as a planet, and not as a star like it usually looks with the naked eye! Up here in North America we should be able to see it best at 10:00 p.m. in the southeastern sky. So.....look up, Everybody!

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 8/28/2003 9:23 AM (GMT -6)

Well, I used my binoculars last night to look at Mars, but mine are the small kind so it didn't really make the planet look that much different. It was pretty blurry actually. Maybe I'll try again tonight after cleaning off the lenses.

I was so tired after having gone to the MN State Fair that I didn't feel like digging out the special lens cleaning cloth.

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

Magneton
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 132

Posted 8/28/2003 10:08 AM (GMT -6)

A local radio weatherman, Mike Lynch, held an all-night Mars watch party near us so I went out there. Several people brought telescopes to share. A really cool couple had an 8" (mirror diameter) reflector telescope. You could make out the polar ice cap on Mars. Mike had a 6", 10", and 14.5" reflector telescope, thru which the markings (variations in darkness) on the surface were also visible. Viewing was great. We get spoiled by the Hubble images, but it was very cool to see it "live," even if we don't see as much detail.
http://www.lynchandthestars.com/

It's hard to resist a once-in-many-lifetimes astronomical event.

Magneton

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

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