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Mars and the rival of Mars.

alan potts

By alan potts
in Observing - Reports

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alan potts

alan potts

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I remember from many years ago watching the Sky at Night with as it was then just Patrick Moore and him talking about Antares and saying the name of this star meant the rival of Mars.

I guess the visit of Mars to the same area of the sky that Antares dominates is fairly rare, it's not every 10 minutes that is for sure. Tonight we had about 5 degrees between the two and the weather whilst very clear was also very windy and rather cold. It is only just over 3 weeks back that the termometer was showing 39 degrees and me and Daniel were sitting in the pool together, do that today and life expectancy could be measured in minutes.

Mars I would say without looking at any data from sites was just a little brighter than Antares though it is not easy to judge when stars and planets are so low, the two bodies will get closer but whether I can see them for my walnut trees is another matter.

Telescopically with the 180mm Mak again I could not really see any great difference between the two but again just thought Mars had the edge. I would have said Mars was a sort of fresh piece of salmon colour where I felt that Antares was a little more red, but seeing at such low levels is full of difficulty with atmospheric aberrations and at no point would I have said alpha Scorpius was a point light source, well after going throught the atmosphere that is.

Would be nice to hear from anyone in the UK or elsewhere that has a clear and maybe better view.

Alan.

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Qualia

Qualia

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Clear evenings have been predicted for tomorrow and Thursday, but sadly I don't get home to gone 23:00 and by the time I'm out it will be later. I've kind of called it a day with Mars and Saturn for 2014 and sadly, Scorpius has gone by the time I'm out. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, Alan. It was a great and informative read :smiley:

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alan potts

alan potts

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I was able to extend my observations a little the other night as the two bodies are now to within 4 dgrees of each other and my findings were much the same. I am beginning to wonder if the chainsaw has to come out to be able to see the closest approach, which is very badly put as they are nowhere near each other.

Alan.

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Paul M

Paul M

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Paul,

I am disappointed with you, you should have been out on the wing with a scope :grin: .

I am hoping for a gap in the clouds tonight so I can see how they are getting on.

Alan :clouds1: :clouds1: :clouds1:

I was out there in spirit!

I'd posted on SGL already about watching Antares, Mars and Saturn from my holiday location.

Having lost track in the second week of my stay in Turkey I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted the pairing unexpectedly.

It's maybe 20 years since I saw them in this configuration. That was from a holiday destination too (Greece I think).

The similarity is quite startling to the unsuspecting.

My initial thoughts were that the current pairing looked like a red coloured Castor and Pollux.

They'd look spectacular from equatorial latitudes. Arching overhead.

They look so similar but twins they are not!!

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Paul M

Paul M

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Can I ask were you got your chart from.

Very good.Thanks

Steve

Looks like SkySafari, the brilliant app available on Android and iOS mobile devices. 

In 10 million years, alien explorers might happen upon a desolate, exhausted Earth and discover the  fossil remnants of some communication devices and forensic investigations might piece together enough data to reconstruct a working copy of SkySafari.

They will hold our long extinct species in high regard.... 

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alan potts

alan potts

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Yes it is a great App and has no walnut trees to spoil the fun. Just as I got a clear patch the trees got in the way last night, I could have walked down the field but after 2 inches of rain I thought I wouldn't bother, I think I would still be out there stuck in the mud.

They are getting closer though you can see it every night even without any form of measuring device, they are a very nice view in any bino's, they are both were inside my 70X10.5's and they can see just under 5 degrees. I would say the seperation is now around 3.5 degrees.

Alan.

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