Mars

JonMikal · Oct 29, 2005

calling all plasticspanners.........i hear Mars should be visible tonight in the eastern sky. it's supposed to be so close that it will have an orangish glow about it.

hope to see some pics!

LittleMan · Oct 29, 2005

JonMikal said:
calling all plasticspanners.........i hear Mars should be visible tonight in the eastern sky. it's supposed to be so close that it will have an orangish glow about it.

hope to see some pics!

yep, it's going to be there!
I'm definately going to be watching it. :thumbup:
I'll try to get a pic of it... although it definately won't be as good as plastic's

elsaspet · Oct 29, 2005

We're going to be out with a scope too, but it will prolly be next to impossible to get a decent shot.

LittleMan · Oct 29, 2005

elsaspet said:
We're going to be out with a scope too, but it will prolly be next to impossible to get a decent shot.

With our scope we should be able to see the storm on mars... there's a big one right now. :thumbup:

PlasticSpanner · Oct 29, 2005

:thumbup: Mars will/has been visible for a few months now!

You're not going to get a photo with any Martian detail unless you can go up to about 300 X zoom! You should get some good views through a scope though!:thumbup:

But remember, like the moon, Mars is like a light source even though it's only reflecting light from the Sun. Short exposures with a fast lens stopped down a couple of stops will get a nice round planet shape but long exposures like those used to record stars will bloat the planet and start to lose the red/orange colour! Use a wide lens & record more surrounding information and to enable a longer exposure, or even include some scenery if you can get it in the shot!:thumbup:

Happy shooting/observing! I'll be at home looking up at the clouds in the rain!:cry:

PlasticSpanner · Oct 29, 2005

davep-(Society of Popular Astronomy Forum) said:
I just noticed a nice little coincidence this morning. Sunday October 30th is the date of the closest approach of Mars. Sunday October 30th is also the date of the broadcast of Orson Welles' version of The War of the Worlds.

It cheered me up a little given all the cloud I'm looking at over this weekend.
:cry:

Is this a coincidence? :lol:

LittleMan · Oct 29, 2005

PlasticSpanner said:
Is this a coincidence?

:lmao: wonder what nerd planned that... :lmao:

PlasticSpanner · Oct 29, 2005

LittleMan said:
:lmao: wonder what nerd planned that... :lmao:

We don't have Nerds in the UK!

Just Anoraks! :lol:

LittleMan · Oct 30, 2005

Well, I just came in from looking at mars.

I don't think I got any good pics of it... I tried a few with my film camera, but I don't think any will actually come out.
I saw the storm on mars with the telescope. Ours can go to 250x size so it was nice and clear. :thumbup:
For some reason the camera adaptor doesn't work with the eyepieces that are super powerful... it won't focus so I think it's just the focal length is wrong.
Anyways... the sky is super clear here in South Texas. Beautiful meteor shower also. (we saw about 10 of them)

I also found the Andromeda Galaxy, along with Orion's Nebula. :thumbup: