Mars

[abunaitoo]

Today Mars was suppose to be the close to the earth.
It's suppose to be an orange star in the sky.
I think I saw it, but not sure.
The best glass I have is my 60X spotting scope.
Even then it was kind of small.
I looked at other stats in the area to compare.
It did look kind of orange.
Next time it's this close is in 35 years.
I'm sure I'll be gone by then.
At least I can say, I think I saw it.

[Pinger87]

Just because it's closer doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a clearer picture. Gotta factor in light pollution, cloud coverage, etc. And you being out Kaneohe-side, you'll have plenty more great opportunities. If possible, try and summit Mauna Kea at night over on Big Island. On a good night, it's like you can reach up and pluck one of stars out of the sky like an apple.

[dangitgriff]

I heard they put a telescope up on Maunakea...maybe you can borrow it for a minner.

[skrapyard628]

It was a pretty clear night by me last night and even with the light pollution it was a bright orange beauty. Its been a fairly good year for all planet viewing IMO. Good views of Jupiter and Saturn earlier this summer and Mars for the beginning of fall.

That 60x should be way more than enough for a good view if you can keep it stable. The only drawback may be the amount of light the objective lets in.

I rolled the telescope out to take a quick peek at Mars last night and even with a 10x eyepiece it was some good viewing. Its a zhumell z12 dob (12"mirror) so it was very bright. I have 100x and 200x eyepieces but with a hand controlled dob scope on a homemade base its hard to align and track things. They just move out of view too fast and its a bit clunky aligning by hand with that much magnification.

If you want to help identify things they have apps you can get on your smartphone to help. I use SkEye.

[BamaNapper]

Mars will show up as a round disc, even through binoculars on good evenings, while a star will be just a pinpoint of light. If you were seeing a round object, you were seeing Mars or another planet. At 60X with a spotting scope you will definitely see most of the planets as a disc. Even an average pair of binocs will let you check out Jupiter and watch its moons move over the course of a couple nights. Great fun for kids interested in that sort of thing.

https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.co...rth.%20More%20

Also, don't sweat the fact that Mars was the closest it will be in however long. It's not like the planet is heading off into oblivion, not to be visible for that long. It'll be back with really good viewing every couple years. The earth moves around the sun faster than Mars, and actually passes it (30-some millions miles away) every two years. Imagine one race car on a 1/4 mile track, and another on a 1/2 mile track, with the smaller track inside the larger. The car on the short track is going to pass the car on the longer track fairly often. The whole 'closer' thing is due to the slightly elliptical orbits of the planets and the fact that the plane of the orbits aren't the same. We pass Mars this time with all the ellipticals and planes just perfect, at about 35 million miles. Next time around we might pass Mars at 37 million miles. If it's 10% farther away it's going to look maybe 1% smaller and 1% dimmer. Imagine what a 100-target looks like at 110 yds.

Sorry for the sloppy math, I don't feel like firing up the calculator and getting all confused with radians, degrees, and arc-seconds.

[Tatume]

Today Mars was suppose to be the close to the earth.
It's suppose to be an orange star in the sky.
I think I saw it, but not sure.
The best glass I have is my 60X spotting scope.
Even then it was kind of small.
I looked at other stats in the area to compare.
It did look kind of orange.
Next time it's this close is in 35 years.
I'm sure I'll be gone by then.
At least I can say, I think I saw it.

This photo was taken last Saturday (10/03/2020). Mars is above and to the left of the moon. The bright dot below the moon is an ISS resupply mission launched from NASA Wallops Island, VA. You can see the rocket trail left by the second stage as it burns.

[bakerjw]

They do this all the time. OMG, some celestial body is closer to Earth than in the last ?? years. Yep... It's % larger than normal which takes very finely tuned instruments to detect.
It's cool to look to the skies but they all look like points of light in the end.

[abunaitoo]

This photo was taken last Saturday (10/03/2020). Mars is above and to the left of the moon. The bright dot below the moon is an ISS resupply mission launched from NASA Wallops Island, VA. You can see the rocket trail left by the second stage as it burns.

I guess I was looking in the correct place.
Thanks

[BeeMan]

This photo was taken last Saturday (10/03/2020). Mars is above and to the left of the moon. The bright dot below the moon is an ISS resupply mission launched from NASA Wallops Island, VA. You can see the rocket trail left by the second stage as it burns.[/QUOTE]

What did you use to capture the image? Pretty impressive picking up the trail from the resupply rocket.

[elmacgyver0]

People were more into astronomy before electric lights and TV, sad, but true.

[Tatume]

[frkelly74]

I have noticed it as an off colored orangish point of light high in the sky toward the west just before sunrise for the last three weeks or so. When it has been clear it is quite noticeable.

[skrapyard628]

It's cool to look to the skies but they all look like points of light in the end.

I have to say I was never very interested in astronomy other than using the stars to determine directions during the night until I actually got to look through a few decent telescopes.

The scope I have wasnt too expensive and still powerful enough to clearly view the rings around saturn, the colors of the storms on jupiter and some amazing views of the terrain on the moon. Viewing the andromeda galaxy was really interesting for the first time too. Plus there is just something relaxing about a quiet night outside with the scope and a good cigar.

My girlfriends dad and his friends run an amateur astronomy group called Bootleg Astronomers and they do two camping star parties each year. Im not too big into it but its cool to go out and see what some of the people are imaging or viewing while camping out for the weekend.

Another bonus is I could use the telescope as a spotting scope if I ever need to pretend I can shoot something a mile away.

[Tatume]

Another bonus is I could use the telescope as a spotting scope if I ever need to pretend I can shoot something a mile away.

If you use two ocular diagonals the image will be right side up.

[BamaNapper]

I have noticed it as an off colored orangish point of light high in the sky toward the west just before sunrise for the last three weeks or so. When it has been clear it is quite noticeable.

Strange. I haven't been out looking for Mars, but I would assume it would be low in the western sky around sunrise. If it's the closest possible to us, it should be directly opposite the sun's position. Picture a straight line from the sun to the Earth to Mars. Maybe it started out higher in the sky and has been dropping for the three weeks. Like I said, I haven't been outside looking for it.

[Tatume]

Mars October 9, 2020 10:00 pm EDT
Right ascension 1h 26min 19.6 sec
Declination 5 degrees 34' 29"