[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey PAULI Impressions / Humor Alert

From: STUARTATK_at_aol.com <STUARTATK_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:34 2004
Message-ID: <78.458d3b1b.2c6f2c66_at_aol.com>

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Enjoyed reading about your Mars observations Pauli! I was doing exactly the
same thing early this morning, at around 3.00am. :-)

Set the alarm on my mobile phone, positioning it right beside my head so I
wouldn't sleep through it, and within 5mins of it trilling I was tiptoeing out
into the darkness - don't want to disturb the neighbours in the flat above me -
carrying my 4.5" reflector in one hand and a cup of steaming coffee in the
other...

Because it's an ultra-basic no-frills model (actually, that's not strictly
true, it's not a huge Dobsonian or a bits-everywhere equatorial, but it is a
fully-fledged GoTo with the whole computer drive/handset shebangs, it's just that
for quick looks I don't bother connecting all that up; it's a lot easier to
just Pick-Up-And-GoTo :-) ) I was able to set it down and set it up in a minute
or so, and after a quck focus-check on the Moon ("*&* that's bright!!!") I
was zeroing-in on Mars itself, which was blazing like a drop of moonlit amber
above the roofs of the houses on the other side of the street. Little bit of
haze in the air, not enough to spoil things but just enough to stop the images in
the eyepiece swimming around, so I took my first look...

In the 4.5" at 140x Mars was a very small, but very atractive, disc: pale
orange/beige, with the south polar cap very prominent, looking like a tiny, shiny
white button at the top of the disc. Most of the disc itself appeared blank,
but I could make out Mare Sirenium to the top right and, to the left, slightly
darker, the plain of Mare Erythraeum. (I'm claiming the blank area between
the two as my first sighting of Solis Lacus, "The Eye Of Mars"). Yes, very nice,
I thought, taking a sip of coffee, thank you Universe :-)

I stayed out there for an hour or so, savouring the view. Because Mars was so
close to the rooftops it was swimming a lot in the eyepiece, as warm air
currents rising off the houses distorted its image, and so for most of the time
the Red Planet looked more like an Orange Blob, wibbling and wobbling, but in
those wonderful moments of clear air, which I'm sure Bernd enjoyed too, Mars
solidified before my eyes and was transformed into a sharp-edged pale ochre
globe, with the polar cap shining like mother-of-pearl and the plains standing out
from the disk as if they'd been drawn on it with a pencil. I couldn't see them
directly, but it was anough to know that I was also looking straight at the
mighty volcanoes of Tharsis.

Eventually Mars was just so low that it was literally boiling before my eys,
so I picked up the scope and headed indoors and went back to bed, delighted
with my views.

Looking forward to much more magnified views of Mars through the various
telescopes which will assemble for my astronomical society's "Mars Watch" here on
August 29th. We should have half a dozen or so scopes trained on Mars,
assembled on a big school playing field, and are expecting several hundred people.
The following night we're having a Mars Watch just for ourselves, out in the
wilds, when we'll be able to take our time and savour the view without having to
worry about well-meaning non-astronomers (and their kids... and dogs!) kicking
tripod legs or insisting "I can't see it! Are you sure it's there?!" ;-)

Hope everyone's enjoying their views of Mars too!

Stu


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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3D2 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=
=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">Enjoyed reading about your Mars observations Pauli! I=20=
was doing exactly the same thing early this morning, at around 3.00am. :-)<B=
R>
<BR>
Set the alarm on my mobile phone, positioning it right beside my head so I w=
ouldn't sleep through it, and within 5mins of it trilling I was tiptoeing ou=
t into the darkness - don't want to disturb the neighbours in the flat above=
 me - carrying my 4.5" reflector in one hand and a cup of steaming coffee in=
 the other...<BR>
<BR>
Because it's an ultra-basic no-frills model (actually, that's not strictly t=
rue, it's not a huge Dobsonian or a bits-everywhere equatorial, but it is a=20=
fully-fledged GoTo with the whole computer drive/handset shebangs, it's just=
 that for quick looks I don't bother connecting all that up; it's a lot easi=
er to just Pick-Up-And-GoTo :-) ) I was able to set it down and set it up in=
 a minute or so, and after a quck focus-check on the Moon ("*&amp;* that's b=
right!!!") I was zeroing-in on Mars itself, which was blazing like a drop of=
 moonlit amber above the roofs of the houses on the other side of the street=
. Little bit of haze in the air, not enough to spoil things but just enough=20=
to stop the images in the eyepiece swimming around, so I took my first look.=
..<BR>
<BR>
In the 4.5" at 140x Mars was a very small, but very atractive, disc: pale or=
ange/beige, with the south polar cap very prominent, looking like a tiny, sh=
iny white button at the top of the disc. Most of the disc itself appeared bl=
ank, but I could make out Mare Sirenium to the top right and, to the left, s=
lightly darker, the plain of Mare Erythraeum. (I'm claiming the blank area b=
etween the two as my first sighting of Solis Lacus, "The Eye Of Mars"). Yes,=
 very nice, I thought, taking a sip of coffee, thank you Universe :-)<BR>
<BR>
I stayed out there for an hour or so, savouring the view. Because Mars was s=
o close to the rooftops it was swimming a lot in the eyepiece, as warm air c=
urrents rising off the houses distorted its image, and so for most of the ti=
me the Red Planet looked more like an Orange Blob, wibbling and wobbling, bu=
t in those wonderful moments of clear air, which I'm sure Bernd enjoyed too,=
 Mars solidified before my eyes and was transformed into a sharp-edged pale=20=
ochre globe, with the polar cap shining like mother-of-pearl and the plains=20=
standing out from the disk as if they'd been drawn on it with a pencil. I co=
uldn't see them directly, but it was anough to know that I was also looking=20=
straight at the mighty volcanoes of Tharsis. <BR>
<BR>
Eventually Mars was just so low that it was literally boiling before my eys,=
 so I picked up the scope and headed indoors and went back to bed, delighted=
 with my views.<BR>
<BR>
Looking forward to much more magnified views of Mars through the various tel=
escopes which will assemble for my astronomical society's "Mars Watch" here=20=
on August 29th. We should have half a dozen or so scopes trained on Mars, as=
sembled on a big school playing field, and are expecting several hundred peo=
ple. The following night we're having a Mars Watch just for ourselves, out i=
n the wilds, when we'll be able to take our time and savour the view without=
 having to worry about well-meaning non-astronomers (and their kids... and d=
ogs!) kicking tripod legs or insisting "I can't see it! Are you sure it's th=
ere?!" ;-)<BR>
<BR>
Hope everyone's enjoying their views of Mars too!<BR>
<BR>
Stu<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>
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Received on Sat 16 Aug 2003 02:42:46 AM PDT


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