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#1 2003-09-08 12:00:33

Ian
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Registered: 2002-01-08
Posts: 236

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Have any if you seen mars or August 26th? I was in a hotel building when I saw it from the window in the hall. It was one of the brightest objects in the sky.

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#2 2003-09-08 16:58:08

Palomar
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From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Have any if you seen mars or August 26th? I was in a hotel building when I saw it from the window in the hall. It was one of the brightest objects in the sky.

*Yes.  Some of us discussed viewing it through our own telescopes as well:  The "New Discoveries" thread in the "Science and Technology" folder.

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#3 2003-09-09 13:05:18

Josh Cryer
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Registered: 2001-09-29
Posts: 3,830

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

I caught the full moon and Mars last night, side by side. It was quite lovely. smile

I had some really clear skies, first time in a few days.


Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

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#4 2003-09-09 13:18:30

clark
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Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,375

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Looks like we shared the same view!

I was lying there, and through a window hung an almost perfect full moon. It was huge and clear in the night sky. Off to the left of the moon was just one shining red-orange speck of light, Mars.

That speck seemed so small, so far compared to the moon. It always takes me aback when I think how arrogant mankind is to contemplate the feat of placing a person there. Then I see the moon, and I think, perhaps our arrogance isn't so undeserved.
:;):

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#5 2003-09-09 13:43:17

Josh Cryer
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Registered: 2001-09-29
Posts: 3,830

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Ahh, indeed, that's exactly the position I saw them. This is beginning to feel like some romance novel... :;):

big_smile

Playing aside, the moon is the most inspirational object in the night sky, for rme. Every time I see it, I can't help but wonder why we're not there yet. We made it there three decades ago!


Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

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#6 2003-09-09 13:49:04

clark
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Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,375

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Pardon me Shakespeare.... A Juliet by any other name...


But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Mars is the sun!--
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.--
It is my lady; O, it is my love!

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#7 2003-09-10 21:47:49

Spider-Man
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From: Pennsylvania
Registered: 2003-08-20
Posts: 163
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Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Ah, aren't we all united in that moment? looking up into the eternal abyss of the sky as the two heavenly bodies bind us in our common vision of the future...

But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Mars is the sun!--
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.--
It is my lady; O, it is my love!

You know what makes that incredibly funny and appropriate?  Shakespeare was misogynistic; so by having Mars be the fair male one (as he referred to the fair young man in his sonnets whom he loved, the other half of his sonnets dedicated to hating feminity), and also in denouncing the Moon (depricating our very own divine Cindy, who deserves nothing but praise), and now instead elevating the masculine Mars... how very peculiar and humorous.


I saw the Moon and Mars again tonight, an absolutely spectacular view, and both through my telescope.  (It was something like Cindy's signature, which I based on a very similar view from a couple weeks ago.)  It is enchanting to the point where I stop the car in the middle of the road when driving home, and just gaze up, to catch another glimpse of the celestial divinity...

And as interesting as it was to see the bright russet disc of Mars, I will always love the sight of the full Moon in the sky more than any star.  She is almost voluptuous in her silvery, entrancing beauty, cloaked in the obsidian gown of the night, adorned with pearlescent diamonds that sparkle 'round her soft, warm aura as she glows as she has been glowing for aeons beyond count... such is the imagery that inspired Cindy's portrait.

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#8 2003-09-12 19:42:45

Cobra Commander
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From: The outskirts of Detroit.
Registered: 2002-04-09
Posts: 3,039

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

My wife and I walked down to the river for a look at Mars. I just watched it for a few moments in the sky, next to the moon, over Canadian factories which were unusually free of emissions that night. Yeah, I know, Mars was in the Southeastern sky and Canada is North. Well, not in my corner of the planet. Anyway, my wife later commented that seeing it there in the sky she finally (somewhat) understands the pull of it. I, of course, wanted a much closer view  big_smile  One involving handfuls of Martian dirt preferably.

I will surely remember, next time we have a heated and angry debate here, that for a moment we all watched the same point of light in the sky, focused on the same goal.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

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#9 2003-09-12 22:06:13

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Cobra Commander:-

I will surely remember, next time we have a heated and angry debate here, that for a moment we all watched the same point of light in the sky, focused on the same goal.

    Simple, wise and moving words, CC.  smile

    I was standing in the street here in Cairns with a guy I know who thinks space is something you place advertising in! He's always ridiculed the concept of space exploration and laughed at my fascination with Mars.
    I casually pointed to Mars, which was nearly at its closest point to Earth at the time, and told him: "Well, there it is. That's Mars .. only 56 million kilometres away. A whole new world waiting for us." (Or words to that effect) I then waited for the usual mocking response.
    But it never came!
    He seemed suddenly interested in Mars, I think because this was the first time he'd seen it with his own eyes and realised it's an actual place. And it didn't seem too far away either because you could make out its tiny circular shape.
    I don't know which of us was more amazed, him with Mars or me with him!!   :laugh:

    It's such a shame Mars doesn't come closer still, and more often too!
    If it did, we might be able to stir more curiosity in more people and persuade them that sending humans there is perhaps a good idea after all. Wouldn't that be grand?
                                         cool


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#10 2003-09-13 05:37:03

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

I was standing in the street here in Cairns with a guy I know who thinks space is something you place advertising in! He's always ridiculed the concept of space exploration and laughed at my fascination with Mars.
    I casually pointed to Mars, which was nearly at its closest point to Earth at the time, and told him: "Well, there it is. That's Mars .. only 56 million kilometres away. A whole new world waiting for us." (Or words to that effect) I then waited for the usual mocking response.
    But it never came!
    He seemed suddenly interested in Mars, I think because this was the first time he'd seen it with his own eyes and realised it's an actual place. And it didn't seem too far away either because you could make out its tiny circular shape.
    I don't know which of us was more amazed, him with Mars or me with him!!   :laugh:

    It's such a shame Mars doesn't come closer still, and more often too!
    If it did, we might be able to stir more curiosity in more people and persuade them that sending humans there is perhaps a good idea after all. Wouldn't that be grand?
                                         cool

*"Out of sight, out of mind"..."In sight, in mind."

Well, it's nice that your acquaintance actually paused to allow a bit of the grandeur to sink in.  I think most of our fellow humans are suffering from "cabin fever" without realizing it.

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#11 2003-09-14 06:24:15

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Mars on the 26th - Have any of you seen mars on August 26th

Cindy:-

I think most of our fellow humans are suffering from "cabin fever" without realizing it.

    Ha ha !!   :laugh:
    I've never heard it put like that before but you've hit the nail right on the head.
    Very accurate, I think!
                                 smile


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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