The planet Mars will be closest to the earth tonight at any time in the last 60,000 years. It can be seen reasonably high in the southern sky. The apparent brightness is high, to the extent that some may mistake it for Venus, except for the colour, which is attenuated becaause of the contrast with the background sky. If you have a 'scope and decent weather, you will never see it so clearly.
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Brian (the devil incarnate)
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Last night the weather didn't allow observation, but tonight should be better and I alreay have the 10" Maksutov and its CCD primed and ready
Dr. MordridDr. Mordrid
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An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps -
We had a thunderstorm here lastnight
but tonight I'm going over to the observatory to have a gander 
~Sethos"...and in the next instant he was one of the deadest men that ever lived." – Mark TwainComment
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It's clearing up a bit here.... but the streetlights will prevent me seeing ANYTHING
DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.netComment
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Hopefully tomorrow will be clearer.. too much haze from the warm front here.Comment
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I'd love to see some pics.Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Last night the weather didn't allow observation, but tonight should be better and I alreay have the 10" Maksutov and its CCD primed and ready
Dr. Mordrid
Yeah, well I'm gonna build my own lunar space lander! With blackjack aaaaannd Hookers! Actually, forget the space lander, and the blackjack. Ahhhh forget the whole thing!Comment
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Had a look with the most powerful tool I could lay my hands on, a pair of 7 x 50 binos. Very clear sky and it was easy to see that it was a disc, as opposed to a point, but I couldn't see any details (not that I expected to ).
Brian (the devil incarnate)
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Went out at 3am and it was straight up.. beautiful. Looked with my 9x63 binocs, but it was too warm outside.. need to acclimatize them first so they won't fog up. =\Comment
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AS normal cloud and rain have rolled up. Probably stay like that until Mars gets and far away again.Comment
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Hey Doc, can you throw up some of your pics of the red planet?
Jammrock“Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get outâ€
–The Light Fantastic, Terry PratchettComment
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No, please don't throw up into this forum. Thank you.
But I'd be pleased to see your Mars pics in Digital Imaging
AZComment
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Yeah, the weather was too crappy here.
Here's an article about it:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/957880.aspComment
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Dr. Mordrid
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An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fpsComment
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Hey Dr. Mordrid, would you happen to know a good place online to get low cost eyepieces? I'd like to get a 10mm eyepiece and a 2 or 3x barlow for my puny little Cometron (really a rebadged Vixen) CO-62. It's a 62mm refractor, F4.8, 300mm focal length. The 25mm eyepiece it's got now gives it a measly 12x magnification, although I know that with such a small scope you can't really get too much out of it anyway.Comment
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Went to the little observatory here at Fernbank in Atlanta. It is open to the public 10pm - 2am this week and the next for Mars viewing. Waited in line 2 hours Tuesday but did not get in; last night got there early but it was completely overcast and rainy. But for a change the heat dome surrounding Atlanta worked in my favor. At about 10:30 the cloud cover melted away even though there was no wind. Shortly I got to view Mars through a .9 meter mirror telescope (which seemed pretty big to me, not know anything about the subject). Was able to discern the polar cap and the network of canyons around the middle. Quite an experience, I consider myself very fortunate.Comment
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