Thanks. Tonight was the night, 74 dewpoint, generalized clouds...
I was outdoors sweating at 3 A.M., but Mars was looking pretty good.

I'd rather sweat than do what I did with the Leonids last year, which
was to lay out in 23 degree F . weather for two hours...

- Livingston

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 00:27:58 GMT, "Brent Eamer"
wrote:

What a great read....you crack me up....

Nice prose

Good luck!!
"Livingston" wrote in message
. ..
Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed the past three months of
observing and have observed plenty of detail. The darn thing is just
too bright right now. Give it a chance in about two or three weeks and
I think you will find it more accessible to the eye. I could sense it
was brightening too much for my comfort about two weeks ago.
If you have the proper filters to dim the disc, bless you. I just
spent $850 and I am not spending one more dime. Practice is the key,
train the brain and the eyes. I detected the polar cap when the disc
was 12" and dark features when the disc was 14". They say with a good
scope and a trained eye you can spot dark features at 9". We'll see if
I can do so soon enough, albeit it should fade a tad slower than it
approached. I like my 70mm refractor, it performs well enough.

Saturn looks good even though it is just reemerging from behind the
sun. I await opposition with baited breath. Jupiter should reemerge
soon too.

I really had a good night the other night. Saturn was low in the sky
so I could not tease out the Cassini Division, but it still looked
interesting. The Orion Nebula reminded me of a caped shadow,
a hooded dark shade with his cape flowing up behind and above his
head.

Any one interested in spotting Uranus should try now too, it is
relatively bright and easy to locate in Aquarius near Mars. Near being
a relative term, it always surprises me how close objects appear on a
chart and how spaced they are above my head. The next night I go out,
I am going for Uranus. I have tried on three previous occasions, and
am sure I have seen it without knowing it. I want to use the new scope
after locating it with binoculars to see if I can detect a disc, I
think I should be able to.

The magic for me is in seeing it all live, with my eye, these photons
that have traveled quite a journey just to go 'smack' on my retina.
The sky is my Fortress of Solitude, my place of being at one with the
Universe. Mars is tiny... I wish that all the headlines contained a
disclaimer to keeps people's expectations low: "Yes, this is a really
exceptional opposition, but Mars is still as tiny as a flea's butt!"
Well, not that tiny... Heck, the planet is only twice the size of the
moon placed 150 times farther away. Proper expectations should be
prominently encouraged, not added as an afternote after lots of hype.

I am trying to share this Mars opposition with my father, but since he
did not practice as the planet approached he has a tough time even
detecting the polar cap. Now that the cap has shrunk, he barely sees
it at all. I have little hope he will detect dark features. Perhaps he
can get the required practice now through September. Of course, I also
have to keep his magnification down due to floaters, any magnification
over 140x bothers him. I personally got my best views when the disc
was about 20", around July 20th or so.

I think my father will enjoy the Mars landers and the Cassini probe
far more than this pursuit. Of course, we have two naked eye comets
this spring and I am hyping that up to him so he does not lose
interest 'cause of the Great Red Speck.

- Livingston

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 23:25:31 -0500, "Darrell"
wrote:

You're not alone! I have about the same setup, and I'm looking at a
slightly orange dot just slightly bigger than what it appears to the
naked
eye. I'm starting to wounder if I'm getting my $$$ worth. However, the
new
found interest has helped me become educated in the universe around us.
I've learned that the Earth isn't in the center.

Saturn was a fasinating view. I could see a dot with a tight ring around
it. The world isn't black and white, but I'm starting to believe the
universe may be.



D-

"Livingston" wrote in message
. ..
I just got the same exact scope. Fun to move, isn't it?

You are magnifying 200x with the 10mm and the barlow.
It appears as it does, I suppose it is small. Professionals say you
should train your brain and eyes for a few months before you can
expect the best results. Your calculation is correct, but the
distortion is greater observing Mars.

Personally, it is so bright all I can see is the now quite modest
southern polar cap, and I am getting glare lines off of the disk, akin
to a Hubble close up of a star. I think I will be happier in a few
weeks when I may lose a arcsecond or two off of the disk, but the damn
thing will dim back to where it is not washed out. I catched the
impression of a continent like dark patch earlier just above, or now
below, the cap, but it was quite hard to perceive. Now, it is rotated
away and I have better things to look at.

Folks here were talking about how the Moon is deceptive, that you
think it is bigger in the sky than it really is. Sometimes near the
horizen you get distortion that creates that effect too. Basically,
someone said to hold a dime at arm's length to get a good
approximation. Sad to think this is the best Mars can get.

Saturn comes up soon to the east in Gemini I believe, you could target
that for something more satisfying tonight. I am getting the distinct
impression a lot of the Mars hype is justified, but a lot of it is
also folks making a buck.

- Livingston


On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 06:15:01 GMT, "Muff" wrote:

Just got a new scope, it's an Orion Skyview Pro 8. I have a 10mm, 25mm
and
32mm plossel eyepieces and a 2x Barlow.
Only used the scope twice so far. First night wasen't the best viewing
conditions and I was just playing around looking at starts. They
did'nt
look
any different in the scope then with the naked eye.

Tonight the viewing conditions and my location were a bit better and I
had a
clear view of mars. A nice dot in the sky. Under the telescope it took
on
the form of a very very small circle, only slightly bigger than
viewing
it
with the naked eye. No matter which eyepiece I used or even with the
barlow
it still was a very small circle, appeared to be about 2mm across at
most.
The eyepieces don't seem to make it much bigger, even the 10mm
eyepiece.
It
just narrows my field of view.
I read somewhere that with 70x binoculors that Mars would appear the
size
of
the full moon. I haven't tried using binos but my scope is certainly
at a
magnification much higher than that. And with an 8" mirror I thought
for
sure the planet would have appeared much much larger.

Is there something wrong with my scope or is that how it appears to
all
of
you who have viewed Mars recently?