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Mars

Kung-Fu_Kills

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Kung-Fu_Kills

Kung-Fu_Kills

Posted
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Evening, all!

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned already, but I've noticed that mars's orbit gets very close to Earth, the early part of next year. Will it appear much bigger in the sky? And will we be able to see much more through our scopes? :eek:

Just a thought! ;)

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King

King

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It just happens that I've been logging heights and closeness of the planets from Stellarium and for Mars we have:

"5th March 2012 : It will be already descending just after dark so I will go by 10pm : Height - 46° : Direction - 209°. Its evening height peak is this month anyway so might as well go for it this day!"

Those coordinates are related to London...

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dweller25

dweller25

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I'm hoping for a good view during that time. When Mars was showing its brilliance the last time it was around, I couldn't see the ice caps. I was told that it was impossible to see it even with my 10" Dob. Is this true?

Isabelle

False - you will easily see the ice cap in your 10" scope - plus a lot more ....... You may need a neutral Density filter to dim the view down a little.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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It just happens that I've been logging heights and closeness of the planets from Stellarium and for Mars we have:

"5th March 2012 : It will be already descending just after dark so I will go by 10pm : Height - 46° : Direction - 209°. Its evening height peak is this month anyway so might as well go for it this day!"

Those coordinates are related to London...

excellent. that's a lot higher than I thought it would be.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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False - you will easily see the ice cap in your 10" scope - plus a lot more ....... You may need a neutral Density filter to dim the view down a little.

I agree, I was easily seeing the ice caps and dark areas etc with a 6" f5 reflector and also a 120mm f8.3 achro refractor. collimation would be important but I presume you have this sorted.

I am very hopeful of seeing further detail this year now with my 6" f11 newt (and my 16" f4 is the seeing is co-operating!).

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Hypernova

Hypernova

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I didn't get much of a view last time round with the 8" dob, at the time I only had the 10mm MA eyepiece which gave me 120x which may or may not be adequate, anyway I have 7mm ortho and 6mm SPL geared up and ready for the next opposition. Collimation might've been a issue as well as I hadn't yet learned to carry out the dark art and as such the 'scope hadn't been collimated since the start of it's long-term lease which was around 6 months prior!

I only managed to get the very small disk and a hint of the ice cap at the highest power, I can't wait to see it next time and see what other detail I can tease out :eek:

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lukebl

lukebl

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Unfortunately, the 2012 opposition will be one of the least favourable ones (even worse than the 2010 one), as Mars will be closer to aphelion and over 62 Million miles from earth. That will result in its maximum apparent size being only about 13.9" on March 3rd, compared to the opposition in 2018 when it will be around 36 Million miles away and 24.3" across (although then so far South that it will only rise to around 12 degrees above the horizon for those of us in N. Europe).

You should be able to pick out the pole caps and some markings, though.

Roll on October 2020, when Mars is higher in the sky and around 20" across!

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Space Cadet USA

Space Cadet USA

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I can see the headlines already:

"Mars to make close approach to Earth. Were the Mayans right? Earthquakes and general all round destruction forecast."

Not to mention the emails telling people Mars is going to look the size of a dinner plate held at arms length or some such nonsense :)

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sandspider

sandspider

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Gosh, astronomy is a long term hobby :)

I have an 8in Dob, would I be able to get sufficient magnification on Mars or would tracking become the problem? Should March become my target date for my equatorial platform build? :icon_eek:

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Gosh, astronomy is a long term hobby :)

I have an 8in Dob, would I be able to get sufficient magnification on Mars or would tracking become the problem? Should March become my target date for my equatorial platform build? :icon_eek:

8 inches of aperture is plenty for Mars. I often use 250x on Mars, and only rarely more. Using an EP with as wide a field of view helps a lot to reduce the number of judges needed. Equatorial mounts with tracking are more comfortable of course.

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bish

bish

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13.9" is a bit disappointing. I think it was around 25' in 2005, although I was scopeless at the time. Seeing plays an even bigger factor with Mars. I've seen a reasonable amount of detail in my 6" but had to spend a long time at the eyepiece.

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