Anyone seen Mars....

Pyramid · 08-28-2003, 08:00 AM

in the last couple of days. We got out of our music studio about 11 pm last night and started looking for it. It was the brightest star in the sky by far. This was confirmed when on my way home the DJ pointed out where it was (Southeast horizon) I guess it'll be noticable for a few days now because it is the closest it has been to the earth in 60,000 years. I know this has nothing to do with fishing, but it had at least three fisherman staring at it last night. :smile:

stl_hd · 08-28-2003, 10:35 AM

I don't get it...if this is the closest it's been in 60,000 years then won't it take thousands of years to move away from us...it's always been bright. Is it truely brighter say now then it will be a year from now?

Luckybill · 08-28-2003, 02:28 PM

Yeah, i don't get it as well. I hear you can see the planet in detail w/ a small telescope. I also read it will appear as large as the moon if viewed at 75 power. I personaly went up this weekend to the backside of Hood to get a good look. I had 50 power bino's w/ a 20x60 spotting scope. I was really disappointed..

Tanner · 08-28-2003, 02:42 PM

I looked at it through my son's $125.00 Discovery Channel Store telescope last night and it was cool. You could actually see quite a bit of the planet's surface and you could also see one of it's moons just off to the right of Mars.

Luckybill · 08-28-2003, 02:47 PM

Right On!! thats what I wanted to see.. So if you held a camera up to the lense, What would have happened?

08-28-2003, 06:44 PM

I hadn't been with my two older brothers in nearly 27 years so we three had some catching up to do last Saturday. After about four hours at the Gresham Roadhouse

I saw Mars, Jupiter and all kinds of galaxies far, far away

Glad my brothers wife was able to pick us up.
I was in The Dalles last night and did see Mars...for real... but didn't have a decent telescope to view it through.

Snapset · 08-28-2003, 06:50 PM

I watched it last night with a 14" homemade Dobsonian. It was almost too bright. I didn't have a filter, but I could make out the ice cap, I think. As far as the time it takes to move away from earth, Mars and Earth are not on concentric orbits, so it is a kind of a hit or miss thing when the orbits of the 2 planets will bring them close together. Lucky for us it happens during our lifespans.

Snapset · 08-28-2003, 06:53 PM

oops

[ 08-28-2003, 07:53 PM: Message edited by: Snapset ]

steelhooked · 08-28-2003, 10:27 PM

i was watching the weather channel last night and he put it perfectly... if you don't want to stay up to see it then get a black piece of paper and put a pin hole in it and then hold it up the the light and there is mars. :grin:

Jennie@ifish · 08-30-2003, 05:21 PM

Can you still see it? Tonight?
Jen

Pete · 08-30-2003, 05:22 PM

Had an opportunity to watch it for half an hour early this morning while waiting for a sleepy head fishing partner. Wow! Quite a sight!

Snapset · 08-31-2003, 09:07 PM

You won't be able to tell any difference in the viewability for a couple of weeks. You have definitely not "missed the show".

ampersat · 09-01-2003, 04:55 PM

i've been seeing it pretty much every night for a couple of weeks now. no binocs, no scope, just looking at it. it looks like an amber dot in the southern sky about 10 degrees above the horizon. it is by far the brightest thing in the sky except for the moon. pretty cool thing to have happen in my lifetime. too bad i don't have kids yet - it would be that much cooler. as far as seeing it in more detail, i'm not that interested. i can see much better detailed pics from satellite and observatory images online. guess i'm jaded that way.

GutZ · 09-03-2003, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by stl_hd:
I don't get it...if this is the closest it's been in 60,000 years then won't it take thousands of years to move away from us...it's always been bright. Is it truely brighter say now then it will be a year from now?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Here is a simple explanation - Orbits are not round, they are eliptical (oval more or less). The Earth is at a point in its orbit that takes it as far away from the Sun as it gets, while mars is in a point in its orbit that is as close as it gets to the Sun. It just happens that this time around we are on the same side of the Sun. We are not that much closer than recent opositions. This time it just happens to be the closest (by a few 100,000 miles) than in the last 60,000 years.

Here is a web page that will tell you everything there is to know about Mars (including when and where to look, Jenny

) MARS!