Something for all to see!!!

[rgecaprock]

Show your kids!!


I thought this wasa really different perspective to view the earth. A good friend sent it to me, I wanted to share with all of you too!!!!

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
This will cultimate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of Earth.
Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am pst. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

RAMONAEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[rgecaprock]

Masta, I knew you would like this!!! Ramona

 

[masta]

We have a decent telescope we bought for the kids at Xmas and this will be a great opportunity to see something other than the moon. I found some more info on the best viewing:


Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long at 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on Aug. 27, when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of the Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arch seconds wide, at a modest 75-power magnification.



Mars will look as bright as the full moon to the naked eye and will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach it's azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.

Children of all ages will enjoy watching at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

 

[rgecaprock]

Something else I noticed today....I grow Epiphyllums and have been waiting for them to start blooming. They are the tropical orchid cactus and the night blooming cereus. Here is a picture of the bud on one of them. It is about 3 inches long and the bloom will be about as big as a dinner plate. I will post when it is in full bloom. Anyone else every grow these?

This one will have a white bloom and will get much larger before it opens, btw the other will be red.

Edited by: rgecaprock

 

[NorthernWinos]

What an interesting plant....you live in the tropics so you can enjoy plants like that.....do you bring it in during your 'winter'...?

 

[Waldo]

Do you make wine from it?

 

[rgecaprock]

Winos and Waldo,


I do bring them in depending on the weather forcast. But I don't know how I am going to get it in this year if I have to, the thing has branches on it 5 feet long and is going in and out ot the balcony railing. I had a bloom about a month ago but I totally missed it as it was hanging over the balcony where I couldn't see it....I'm keeping my eye on this one. They do produce an edible fruit. I'm pretty new at growing them and haven't seen the fruit yet. It might make good wine if you could get enough. RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[Dean]

We have a decent telescope we bought for the kids at Xmas and this will be a great opportunity to see something other than the moon.

Best viewing of Mars is accomplished with a "Minus Yellow" filter. Any filter that you can get that will reduce the yellow wavelength will make Mars its native red color. August for the last 4 years has been awesome for viewing this planet. If you start at the beginning of August you should be able to see the polar caps which appear bright white on red/black planet background. you can even see them shrink as August moves to September.

The trick to really seeing detail on mars is to get a good long look. Get the scope into a comfortable position, sit down, and let you eyes acclimate to the darkness. After about 15-20 minutes without light sources around, you will be able to see far more detail!

As you can tell, I love planetary viewing. I'll climb back under my geeky rock now

 

[masta]

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<DIV =msg style=": left; OVERFLOW: auto">Guessyou can't always believe what you read on the Internet and this stinks since I was looking forward to seeing it!


Mars Spectacular?
A story floating around the Internet this summer says that Mars will pass unusually close to Earth in late August, and will appear as large as the full Moon.


Sorry, but it's not true.


Mars actually made its closest pass to Earth in many centuries in August of 2003. It was quite bright then, but it still looked only like a bright star, and was nowhere near the size of the full Moon.


2006 is a poor year for viewing Mars. The planet put in a good showing in late 2005, but has been growing fainter throughout this year. In August, it is barely visible very low in the west for a few minutes in early evening, beginning perhaps 30 to 40 minutes after sunset. It looks like a faint star. It drops from sight by about an hour after sunset.
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