Lat/Long and timekeeping system for Mars

Davoud:
*Figuratively speaking. Due to macular degeneration I do not look
through telescopes any more.

Paul Schlyter:
Don't you look at the sky with your naked eyes either anymore?

I do, of course. But if you understood what MD does to vision,
especially in low-contrast lighting (and I sincerely hope that you
never understand that!) you would know why I don't spend a lot of time
gazing with my naked eye or through a telescope.

Last evening I looked at Orion's sword with my naked eyes. Invisible
with direct vision, a blur with averted vision. Polaris is invisible to
my eyes in conditions when others can easily see it. I can't see it
except under the very best seeing conditions, usually in the wee hours
of the morning.

You can use the sky itself as a sidereal clock by finding out on
which RA your local meridian is.

Been there, done that, from the mid-60's through the 80's. That sort of
exercise is a valid hobby, but it's not my hobby. I like to pretend
that I'm playing with the big boys. I know that they don't walk outside
at the Keck observatory and determine the RA of the meridian visually
and then go back in and aim their telescopes accordingly. They do what
I do: click on an object on a computer representation of the sky and
then click the "GOTO" icon. That has the advantage of being a big time
saver in my environment in which poor weather greatly constrains
observing time.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm