(SNES) Mars

["Pilotstar" <pilotstar@mindspring.com>]

Hi Folks,

Well, Mars is upon us again. Hopefully, there won't be a major dust storm
(on Mars!!) as in 1956 and 2001 that ruined the show. I was reviewing some
of my older and recent Mars' viewing logs; excerpts from two of them follow:

In 1956 as a budding teenage amateur, I observed Mars with my 4" f/12
Dynascope reflector, experiencing the thrill of seeing markings on Mars. The
southern polar cap was great! Alas, just as I was getting the hang of
central meridian, etc., along came Mr. Global Mars Dust Storm!

May 29, 2001: 6" f/8 Reflector

"The highlight of the observing session was just 5 minutes before I quit:
Using an orange filter at 200X in a lull in the mediocre seeing, I beheld
Argyre and the south polar cap brilliantly
glistening in the reflected sunlight, along with four bright pinpoint
discrete clouds
in the Memnonia/ Tharsis region--what a beautiful sight-- even the north
polar cap
appeared as a brilliant sliver. I've only seen this rarely on Mars."

The "pinpoint discrete clouds" described above taken together form the
famous "W" cloud formation visible in Mars' atmosphere under ideal
conditions. In May 2001, I observed this "W" cloud formation near the
planet's limb, not sure if it would look better near the central meridian.
In 1973, I saw a white circular area at the location of the huge Martian
volcano Nix Olympica--at the time I thought it was the actual volcano, but I
now think it was a cloud that regularly forms over the volcano.

Although Mars will be closer this year at opposition than in 1973-- Mars was
in Aries then and gave excellent views due to its higher altitude and
enabled recording detail in photos taken with my 6" f/8--I suspect views of
Mars this August opposition will be greatly hampered by low altitude at
transit; perhaps similar to 1999 when Mars was in Virgo at opposition. (Of
course we'll observe it anyway during the allocated two-hours of clear
weather this summer--well, maybe we'll get at least one hour!)


Ernie
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