Bad news about Mars

Martin,
I thought Mars rotated throughout our 8 hour long night in late
August. (24 hr 37 minutes)?
Tom W

Correct, as far as he Martian day being slightly longer than ours. This
means
if you can start as soon as Mars get high enough and observe the entire
night,
you'll see at least another third of the planet.

The way the original poster wrote it, you'd think Mars holds the same side
towards
Earth all the time.

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Never be afraid of trying something new for the love of it.
Remember... amateurs built the Ark.
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"bwhiting" wrote in message
...
Martin,
I thought Mars rotated throughout our 8 hour long night in late
August. (24 hr 37 minutes)?
Tom W

This side will be visible at the end of August when mars is the
closest and all eyes will be on it,I.E. there will be nothing to see

Hi:

There is NEVER nothing to see on Mars.
;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

Martin posted:

I have been doing some research on mars.Based on the mars 2 previewer that I
downloaded from sky & telescope one side of mars is almost
featureless. This side will be visible at the end of August when mars is the
closest and all eyes will be on it,I.E. there will be nothing to see even if
seeing is good.

Uh, I don't know where you live, but on the night/morning of closest approach,
from the central U.S., the "interesting" portion of Mars (between CM 0 degrees
and 120 degrees) will be facing us. This has always been the portion of the
planet which is most interesting to me since it includes the highly detailed
markings like Margaritifier Sinus, Aurorae Sinus, Solis Lacus, Coprates,
Tithonius Lacus, Mare Erythraeum, and other finet markings. I have been
getting good looks at this side of Mars over the past few nights, and I am
quite pleased at the detail I have been seeing, although the contrast of the
markings seems a bit lower than a few years ago. We won't see Syrtis Major
from our region, but quite frankly, I am glad that hemisphere is facing us, as
the one between about 120 degrees and 240 degrees longitude is the one I like
to call "the Blank face", as all you can often see is the dark belt of Mare
Sirenum/Cimmerium. A red filter can help bring out the markings, but I see no
reason to say its "bad news" that one hemisphere is facing us. Clear skies to
you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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"David Knisely" wrote

markings like Margaritifier Sinus,

And if you've ever had your sinuses Margaritified, well, Mr. Cuervo would be
proud. I think Wal-Mart sells Margaritifiers for $19.97. Ask for it by name.

Howard Lester

Tom,
I think Mars is as high in the sky as it will be right now at ~ 4AM EST. At
opposition its dec will be somewhat lower.
Bill Bambrick
41 N, 73 W, 95 ASL

In article ink.net,
Starstuffed wrote:
From the yahoo group "ALLASTRONOMERSWELCOME"

snip
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 02:27:37 -0000
From: "john kagey"
Subject: A VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MARS

I have been doing some research on mars.Based on the mars 2 previewer
that I downloaded from sky & telescope one side of mars is almost
featureless. This side will be visible at the end of August when
mars is the closest and all eyes will be on it,I.E. there will be
nothing to see even if seeing is good.

Well, that deepends on your longitude. Travel to a different part of
the Earth, and you'll see a different part of Mars as well.

Some people travel all over the world to see total solar eclipses,
even though they're fairly common (they happen approx. 2 times every
3 years somewhere on Earth). And since this Mars opposition is
"the closest Mars ever has been to the Earth during the entire
history of our civilizations" it ought to easily qualify as a reason
to take a trip to another part of the Earth, at least for a Mars
observing enthusiast.

the last week of July and the first week of August will be the best
time to see features. Not only will they be facing towards us all
night then, but there are predictions of dust storms when they next
become visible in September.
unsnip


Martin

--
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Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/
http://home.tiscali.se/pausch/

Hi,

John Kagey, the author of the post I snipped from "ALLASTRONOMERSWELCOME,"
is the moderator of the group. . .a group from which I am now going to
unsubscribe.

It is lightweight and filled with error as John's post more than
illustrates.

I set the date and time on Cartes du Ciel for August 27, 2003 at 11:30 PM
and took a look at Mars. THE GOOD STUFF IS FRONT AND CENTERED.

As far as I'm concerned, it is just another poor astro group which serves to
show just how good SAA really is!!!!!!!!!


Martin

"Starstuffed" wrote in message
thlink.net...

I set the date and time on Cartes du Ciel for August 27, 2003 at 11:30 PM
and took a look at Mars. THE GOOD STUFF IS FRONT AND CENTERED.

As far as I'm concerned, it is just another poor astro group which serves
to
show just how good SAA really is!!!!!!!!!

If you want correction, this _is_ the place to hang. g

I'm just glad you can't be banned for posting inaccuracies or poorly formed
opinions. Without that freedom, I'd learn little.

Stephen Paul
(Graduate, School of Hard Knocks)

(Paul Schlyter) wrote in message ...
Some people travel all over the world to see total solar eclipses,
even though they're fairly common (they happen approx. 2 times every
3 years somewhere on Earth). And since this Mars opposition is
"the closest Mars ever has been to the Earth during the entire
history of our civilizations" it ought to easily qualify as a reason
to take a trip to another part of the Earth, at least for a Mars
observing enthusiast.

Hasn't the significance of this "closest approach in 60,000 years"
been a bit overstated? I suspect that Mars will be only some tiny
fraction of one percent closer to the Earth, and hence larger in
angular diameter, than it has been on hundreds of other occasions in
the intervening 60,000 years. For that matter, this opposition is
going to be only marginally "better" than the 2005 opposition.