(SNES) Making Sense of the 2001 Mars Observations

[Timetrav2@webtv.net (Andy and Barry)]

I don't know about you, but I have been trying to make sense of my 2001
Mars observations. Or should I say the lack of my 2001 Mars
observations. 

The last time I viewed the Red Planet in my telescope was about a week
ago when I had a first time viewer sharing the eye piece. After viewing
Saturn and Jupiter my friend requested to see Mars before he went home
to spend the rest of the night with his family.  Like the good guy that
I am I swung the 'scope' over to the southern sky and focused in on the
"tiny dusty" dot we call Mars.

 While my friend was "bold over" by his first time views of the "gas
giants"  that left him in awe,  Mars with it surface lacking any
viewable detail was a bit of a let down. I did try to explain about the
dust storm to him but for some reason  dust storms just aren't very
exciting. What in the world can we say about Mars with such a storm
raging?

According to the December S&T that question has been answered.  I may be
a slow learner, and this information may have been passed on to me at
some point by some very knowledgeable people, but I do have to say this
dust storm of 2001 was and is one "doosey" of a dust storm. Donald
Parker's article in the Observer's Notebook section explains that this
storm began earlier than usual and went Global.

Only nine global storms have been observed, 1909, 1924, 1956, 1971,
1973, 1975, two storms in 1977 and of course this years storm of 2001.
What makes this year's dust storm unique is that it takes it's place
beside the 1971 storm as being one of only two dust storms that went
totally global by covering both the Northern and Southern hemispheres of
the planet as well as being the earliest seasonal appearance of a major
storm.

This event started  with a small dust cloud in Northern Hellas as
observed by Masatsugu Minami ( director of the Mars Section of the
Oriental Astronomical Association) in Japan on June 24th.  Most likely
many amateur astronomers around the world after this dated started to
complain that they could not find certain features of this mysterious
planet. Martian landscapes that astronomers were longing to see through
the glass of their
telescopes were rapidly becoming difficult to see or completely
invisible.  

By August Mars was one dusty place. Hellas, Mare Boreum, Utopia and the
Mare Erythraeum along with dozens of other Martian  visual destinations
were just names on the pages of warn magazines and moldy astronomy
books. Amateur astronomers became more interested in the Milky Way, and
globular clusters and other more interesting things, in turn leaving
Mars in the "dust".

What I find fascinating is that this dust storm was the real "event".
But being some what "Jaded" and single minded like most humans, us
amateur astronomers tend to go to fast, and expect what the Books or
Atlas's put under our noses.  Imagine this storm was only the second
storm ever observed that behaved in the way it did, and we actually
watched it progress from the beginning and will observe it cycling back
to normal. Hellas, Mare Boreum, Utopia and the Mare Erythraeum as well
as  the Polar Ice caps will all be there to observe when the dust
settles. I think we should take the time to  sit back with our Mars
observations and enjoy what could very well be the Storm of the Century
on Mars.

Stars in your eyes,
Barry Martasian

http://community.webtv.net/Timetrav2/TIMETRAVELERS
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to snegazers@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe snegazers"