Folks! Get ready. When astronomers say once in a life time oppurtunity, their not kidding! However, once in a lifetime is a bad understatement. This is a once in 50,000 year oppurtunity. So I suggest you either A. Buy a telescope for the occasion or B. Find the bigest one near you that you can. On August 30, 2003, Mars will be the closest to Earth in more than 50,000 years. Which means a few things. Number one, its reaaaallllllyyyyy bright. Projected brightness leans towards -3.0. And number two, it doesn't just look like a useless point of orangeish light in the telescope anymore! continue.... Tonight, I woke up at 2:30am and decided that even though it was foggy and humid as all hell, that I had to take my 10" sope out and take a look at "The Red Planet". Well, even though it was foggy, the atmosphere turbulent and viewing from the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, I could see the northern polar ice cap and the major dark feature on the surface... I have to find the name of it... I will post a... wait... just found it in astronomy magazine. I think it was Syrtis Major. Anywho, if there is one time you visit that ugly neighbor with a nice telescope, or your local observatory for the first time, its now. Anyway, lets have some Goooood Mars discussion on the upcoming opposition along with suggested filters to use and anything else that might give us good views of the red planet. Cheers to the Red Planet, Later, TPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Will I have a good view I acquired a telescope not to long ago with a 5.1" primary mirror, and a 900mm focal length with 25mm 20mm 10mm and 5mm eyepieces, with mars coming so close, will i be able to see some decent detail, or will it be a spec. Im only asking because where i live now, mars only comes up at like 4 in the morning. And i want to know if i get up early in the morning, will it be worth it?
im just choked we didn't use the opportunity to check it out live and in person. Think we'll ever get our crap together enough to go? by the way, thanx for the heads up Tristan. i didn't realize it was so close. Im already making plans to go to the observatory.
Bloody Moon! Its ruining excellently clear nights! I cant see mars with it so close! GrRRRRRR! Anybody have any better luck?
Mars planetry movements Hi all just a thought the ancients used ther planetry movements to chart everything from how they washed their cloths to how they scratched their bums so my problem is mars is as you all know gonna be very close to earth and the alignment it has with good old earth i'm wondering how will it effect our gravitational tide movements as the moon does but lets think um mars is a bit bigger than the moon so what the hell is going to happen do we need to call up Bruce Willis or shall we all float into space or wait till the moon plows into the earth or should i just take a valium and chill out who knows but ring Bruce Willis just in case but jokes aside its a strange worls so lets get strange i believe if we know the right way to do it something can be be achieved from this positioning of the stars lets face it we may think were all very fine and dandy and have worked everything out but lets face it we don't know shit about the past but some do anyways chow babies
I dont think you have much to worry about. Mars may be larger than the moon and RELATIVELY close right now but its still REALLY, REALLY far away if your talking about any kind adverse gravitational effects here on earth.
Well, I know we're rather far apart there Tristan, but somehow I think we're not yet that far apart... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Mars A good friend of mine e-mailed this to me, keep an eye out for it. This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars, 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. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11arc 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 Mar will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 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 when it comes to seeing something that no human 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. Then mark it again and remember the 27th at 12:30 am.
it's sad that most people don't even care that something like this is going to happen. people are too busy with their lives to pay attention to the important things.
Thanks! I always have trouble spotting mars without my telescope, but the other day I picked it out pretty easily. I was going to post and ask about this.
this is the 3rd post on this subject! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25004 http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26441
