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What planet am I seeing? (major newbie question)
I got the telescope bug and went out and got one. After I figured out which
end to point, I thought I'd check out some stars. Obviously, they look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye. For some reason, I trained the scope to a reddish "star" that was down on the western horizon (of Phoenix Arizona). Looking at it through the scope, it was a perfectly round, whitish planet. I thought it might be Mars because of it's reddish hue, but through the scope it was white. Venus perhaps? This was last night (07-01-2004). Thanks. -Tom |
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Tom wrote:
I got the telescope bug and went out and got one. After I figured out which end to point, I thought I'd check out some stars. Obviously, they look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye. For some reason, I trained the scope to a reddish "star" that was down on the western horizon (of Phoenix Arizona). Looking at it through the scope, it was a perfectly round, whitish planet. I thought it might be Mars because of it's reddish hue, but through the scope it was white. Venus perhaps? This was last night (07-01-2004). Thanks. -Tom Probably was Mars, which should have been near your western horizon shortly after sunset. For a very basic star chart with current planet locations, check this http://www.accd.edu/sac/ce/scobee/StarChart.htm Fiddle around with Google, you can find better ones. That's just the first one I turned up in a quick look. |
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Tom wrote:
I got the telescope bug and went out and got one. After I figured out which end to point, I thought I'd check out some stars. Obviously, they look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye. For some reason, I trained the scope to a reddish "star" that was down on the western horizon (of Phoenix Arizona). Looking at it through the scope, it was a perfectly round, whitish planet. I thought it might be Mars because of it's reddish hue, but through the scope it was white. Venus perhaps? This was last night (07-01-2004). Thanks. -Tom Probably was Mars, which should have been near your western horizon shortly after sunset. For a very basic star chart with current planet locations, check this http://www.accd.edu/sac/ce/scobee/StarChart.htm Fiddle around with Google, you can find better ones. That's just the first one I turned up in a quick look. |
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"Tom" wrote in message
... I got the telescope bug and went out and got one. After I figured out which end to point, I thought I'd check out some stars. Obviously, they look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye. For some reason, I trained the scope to a reddish "star" that was down on the western horizon (of Phoenix Arizona). Looking at it through the scope, it was a perfectly round, whitish planet. I thought it might be Mars because of it's reddish hue, but through the scope it was white. Venus perhaps? This was last night (07-01-2004). You need to look more closely if you think the stars look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye Betelgeuse and Aldeberan (even Arcturus) are clearly orange. Alberio (the head of Cygnus the swan) may look white to the naked eye, but a telescope reveals it to be a lovely blue and gold. You could have seen Mercury, Mars or Jupiter. If the disk was big, then it was Jupiter. The disk of Mars is VERY tiny and Mercury goes through phases like the moon. |
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"Tom" wrote in message
... I got the telescope bug and went out and got one. After I figured out which end to point, I thought I'd check out some stars. Obviously, they look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye. For some reason, I trained the scope to a reddish "star" that was down on the western horizon (of Phoenix Arizona). Looking at it through the scope, it was a perfectly round, whitish planet. I thought it might be Mars because of it's reddish hue, but through the scope it was white. Venus perhaps? This was last night (07-01-2004). You need to look more closely if you think the stars look the same magnified as they do with the naked eye Betelgeuse and Aldeberan (even Arcturus) are clearly orange. Alberio (the head of Cygnus the swan) may look white to the naked eye, but a telescope reveals it to be a lovely blue and gold. You could have seen Mercury, Mars or Jupiter. If the disk was big, then it was Jupiter. The disk of Mars is VERY tiny and Mercury goes through phases like the moon. |
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