Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Ted Hoffman · 08-27-2003, 07:52 AM

Oh, I wish I had a Telescope. Hope you guys will be out tonight to see Mars.

Arken · 08-27-2003, 10:47 AM

As with every interesting astronomical event in my life, the sky is clouded over.

Lobstrosity · 08-27-2003, 01:13 PM

There's nothing supremely special about today specifically. It's not like Mars will be noticeably bigger and brighter today than it would be tomorrow or the next day. I'm sure sometime over the next few days your view of Mars will be unobstructed.

Arken · 08-27-2003, 01:29 PM

Yes, but it's the principle of the thing...

Shadowy Man · 08-27-2003, 02:33 PM

Saw it last night with a 16-inch Meade on top of the Astronomy building here.

We had the telescope aligned by about 9:45 and then turned to Mars. Once it got out of the muck low on the horizon, it got significantly better. We watched it until 12:30.

We could easily see the southern hemisphere polar ice cap, and some of the dark features across the center of the disk. In those moments of good seeing, we could see the brightness variations across the planet, even noticing the difference in brightness between the northern and southern hemispheres.

Pretty cool!!

Of course, HST got the best picture.

Lobstrosity · 08-27-2003, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arken
Yes, but it's the principle of the thing...

Well, if it were the principle of the thing you would have woken up this morning around 6 am EDT to look at Mars as that's approximately when we were at our closest approach. You'll have already missed it by nearly a day when tonight rolls around

Arken · 08-27-2003, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lobstrosity
Well, if it were the principle of the thing you would have woken up this morning around 6 am EDT to look at Mars as that's approximately when we were at our closest approach. You'll have already missed it by nearly a day when tonight rolls around

I was up then... that's how I knew it was clouded over. Still is.

Lobstrosity · 08-27-2003, 04:07 PM

Hey, it's not my fault you didn't use the past tense in your original post! All I can see is that at 10:47 AM PT the sky was presumably cloudy in Indiana, and this made you angry/sad. It seems you should have said "as with every interesting astronomical event in my life, the sky was clouded over."

Tim Thompson · 08-27-2003, 04:52 PM

Mars made its closest approach to Los Angeles between 1:19 and 1:20 AM PDT, today (Aug 27), at a distance of 0.3726914320 AU or 34,644,780.13 miles. Griffth Observatory arranged for use of the lawn adjacent to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, between the museum and the G.O. Satellite Facility (temporary home during renovation).

There were no less than 10,000 people there, and i am guessing that as many as 15,000 actually showed up, maybe more. All of the exits from I5, south of Victory, were closed, since the offramps were blocked by heavy surface street traffic. The Ventura Freeway (134) was likewise impacted. Some people told me it took as long as 2 hours just to get off the freeway, and get to the museum. There were about 50 telescopes set up by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and others. We didn't finally clear out unitl about 2:30 AM.

The seeing was OK, and there was considerable detail visible, including Solis Lacus (the "eye of mars"). The planet will look much the same through September, and then get noticably smaller come October. This kind of detail can opnly be viewed by those of us with "ordinary" telescopes at opposition, and this is a peculiarly close one (see When Was Mars Last This Close, 100 kb PDF document).

Arken · 08-27-2003, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lobstrosity
Hey, it's not my fault you didn't use the past tense in your original post! All I can see is that at 10:47 AM PT the sky was presumably cloudy in Indiana, and this made you angry/sad. It seems you should have said "as with every interesting astronomical event in my life, the sky was clouded over."

Well, it is clouded over tonight and it was yesterday morning so both fits. Plus, right now I'm visiting my mother-in-law in Virginia so I'm not in Indiana.

08-27-2003, 07:52 AM	#1
Ted Hoffman Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: "" Posts: 3,863	Mars Day Oh, I wish I had a Telescope. Hope you guys will be out tonight to see Mars.

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08-27-2003, 10:47 AM	#2
Arken Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North Hollywood, CA Posts: 6,303	As with every interesting astronomical event in my life, the sky is clouded over.

08-27-2003, 01:13 PM	#3
Lobstrosity Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 719	There's nothing supremely special about today specifically. It's not like Mars will be noticeably bigger and brighter today than it would be tomorrow or the next day. I'm sure sometime over the next few days your view of Mars will be unobstructed.

08-27-2003, 01:29 PM	#4
Arken Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North Hollywood, CA Posts: 6,303	Yes, but it's the principle of the thing...

08-27-2003, 02:33 PM	#5
Shadowy Man Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: A Shadowy Planet Posts: 7,585	Saw it last night with a 16-inch Meade on top of the Astronomy building here. We had the telescope aligned by about 9:45 and then turned to Mars. Once it got out of the muck low on the horizon, it got significantly better. We watched it until 12:30. We could easily see the southern hemisphere polar ice cap, and some of the dark features across the center of the disk. In those moments of good seeing, we could see the brightness variations across the planet, even noticing the difference in brightness between the northern and southern hemispheres. Pretty cool!! Of course, HST got the best picture.

08-27-2003, 04:07 PM	#8
Lobstrosity Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 719	Hey, it's not my fault you didn't use the past tense in your original post! All I can see is that at 10:47 AM PT the sky was presumably cloudy in Indiana, and this made you angry/sad. It seems you should have said "as with every interesting astronomical event in my life, the sky was clouded over."

08-27-2003, 04:52 PM	#9
Tim Thompson Regular Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Pasadena, CA, USA Posts: 455	Mars made its closest approach to Los Angeles between 1:19 and 1:20 AM PDT, today (Aug 27), at a distance of 0.3726914320 AU or 34,644,780.13 miles. Griffth Observatory arranged for use of the lawn adjacent to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, between the museum and the G.O. Satellite Facility (temporary home during renovation). There were no less than 10,000 people there, and i am guessing that as many as 15,000 actually showed up, maybe more. All of the exits from I5, south of Victory, were closed, since the offramps were blocked by heavy surface street traffic. The Ventura Freeway (134) was likewise impacted. Some people told me it took as long as 2 hours just to get off the freeway, and get to the museum. There were about 50 telescopes set up by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and others. We didn't finally clear out unitl about 2:30 AM. The seeing was OK, and there was considerable detail visible, including Solis Lacus (the "eye of mars"). The planet will look much the same through September, and then get noticably smaller come October. This kind of detail can opnly be viewed by those of us with "ordinary" telescopes at opposition, and this is a peculiarly close one (see When Was Mars Last This Close, 100 kb PDF document).

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