Help with Mars' moons

On page 106 of the August S&T is a chart showing the times of eastern
and western elongation for Mars' two moons. As I understand it,
"eastern" and "western" elongation means the point at which each moon
is at its greatest distance east or west of Mars.

I guess we need to know this because the tiny moons can be lost in
Mars' glow or shine or whatever it is and the best time to see the
moons is when they are as far away from Mars as possible.

My question has to do with reading the chart on page 106. For
example, look at Deimos, August 10 - 11. The entry on the chart says
E. Elong 10 16.1 W. Elong 11 7.2.

I take this to mean that Deimos will reach eastern elongation at 16.1
hours UCT (11.1 hours EDST) on August 10 and will reach western
elongation at 7.2 hours UCT (02.2 hours EDST) on August 11. And, I
guess 16.1 hours is 1606 and 7.2 hours is 0712. So, if I check out
Mars around 0200 hours, EDST, August 11, I may be able to see Deimos
at its western elongation.

Did I break the code, or, do I need to start over?

Thanks.


SPQR

"SPQR" wrote in message
om...
On page 106 of the August S&T is a chart showing the times of eastern
and western elongation for Mars' two moons. As I understand it,
"eastern" and "western" elongation means the point at which each moon
is at its greatest distance east or west of Mars.

Correct.

I guess we need to know this because the tiny moons can be lost in
Mars' glow or shine or whatever it is and the best time to see the
moons is when they are as far away from Mars as possible.

Correct.

My question has to do with reading the chart on page 106. For
example, look at Deimos, August 10 - 11. The entry on the chart says
E. Elong 10 16.1 W. Elong 11 7.2.

I take this to mean that Deimos will reach eastern elongation at 16.1
hours UCT (11.1 hours EDST) on August 10 and will reach western
elongation at 7.2 hours UCT (02.2 hours EDST) on August 11.

That's correct. If you look at the top of each column you'll see a little
"h" to one side of the "hours" column, which makes it pretty obvious what
the numbers mean.

And, I
guess 16.1 hours is 1606 and 7.2 hours is 0712. So, if I check out
Mars around 0200 hours, EDST, August 11, I may be able to see Deimos
at its western elongation.

That is indeed when it's at maximum elongation, but your chances of actually
seeing it in a small telescope are, I'm afraid, pretty remote!

Best of luck, anyway!

Regards,

Chris

I take this to mean that Deimos will reach eastern elongation at 16.1
hours UCT (11.1 hours EDST) on August 10 and will reach western
elongation at 7.2 hours UCT (02.2 hours EDST) on August 11.


That's correct. If you look at the top of each column you'll see a little
"h" to one side of the "hours" column, which makes it pretty obvious what
the numbers mean.

No, that is not correct...almost, but not quite...with Daylight savings
time (Ugh!!) its GMT -4 hours, not 5 hours like when we are on standard
time. 16.1 UCT becomes 12.1 hours EDT, and 7.2 hours UCT becomes 03.2
hours EDT.
Clear Skies,
Tom W.