Posted on 02/03/2010 7:53:02 AM PST by ETL
POLAR ACTIVITY ON MARS: Amateur astronomers monitoring Mars have noticed a sudden change in the appearance of the planet's arctic regions. "Over the weekend a dust stream appeared," reports Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK, "and it is cutting across Mars' north polar cap." He photographed the activity using a 14-inch Celestron:
Polar dust storms are common at this time of year on Mars. It is springtime in the Martian north. Temperature differences between polar ice and darker regions to the south, which are heated by the springtime sun, stir up winds and streamers of rusty-red dust. In years past, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed dramatic dust storms at the edge of the northern polar cap--and now amateurs are seeing them, too. Train your optics here.
more images: from Günther Strauch of Borken, NRW; Germany; from Juan Miguel González Polo of Cáceres, Spain; from Glenn Jolly of Gilbert, Arizona;
Despite the annual e-mail report/hoax which comes around every August claiming that Mars is incredibly close to Earth at that time and that it will look as big as the full moon, etc, Mars actually only gets comparatively close to Earth every 26-27 months, as this is the time required for Earth to catch up to it along its inner orbital path (Mars is in lane 4, Earth is in lane 3). Technically, the "close approach" for this go-around took place, I believe, on Jan 29th. We got to within approximately 60 million miles or so at that point. The August Mars hoax is based in some truth, however, as it was in Aug of 2003 that Earth got especially close to mars (about 35 million miles).
In any case, Mars will continue to remain *relatively* close to Earth and thus shine bright in the night sky for months to come.
give manbearpig 30 billion dollars and he’ll fix this problem.
Yes. It is gorgeous and truly red, even without binoculars! We were on the patio on Saturday night and saw it rising. We decided it must be Mars even before checking the our Sky Calendar page. FYI, you can order the monthly Sky Calendar from Michigan State University. It is $11/year and really worth it!
It is springtime in the Martian north. Temperature differences between polar ice and darker regions to the south, which are heated by the springtime sun, stir up winds and streamers of rusty-red dust.”
Obviously CO2 emissions from earth are heating up mars, also....
“The August Mars hoax..”
It’s not a hoax, which is an intentional deception, but a good example of how chain emails never die!
You point out that this was started in the early summer of 2003, when in that August we did have an unusually close approach.
I think it’s far better to blame the perpetual email on the overall ignorance of the populace, of both science and current events.
Thanks.
A great site for ‘amateur’ Mars observing reports is the Yahoo group, MarsObservers. I put ‘amateur’ in quotes because the images these guys and gals post are truly amazing. But in order to view the group’s messages, reports and images, you have to first join the group. No big deal, especially if you already have a Yahoo Mail account. Here is a link to the group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/marsobservers/
The annual report claims Mars will look as large as the full moon. In reality, even at its closest, it only looks like a very bright orange star.
You seem to be knowledgeable on the subject, so I’ll ask you this: Are the planetary orbits on or close to the same plane? If they are on the same plane, is there an explaination as to why? Gravitational forces?
Obviously George Bush and Karl Rove and all their buddies have been popping wheelies, donuts, and figure-8’s in their specially equipped Halliburton-modified SUVs in all the parking lots up there on Mars.
Yes, the planetary orbits are on roughly the same plane (the “ecliptic” or the apparent path of the earth around the sun). The reason is that the Solar System formed roughly four and a half billion years ago from an accretion disc of dust and gas.
They are all very close to being on the same plane. This is because they all formed from the same circling plane of gas and dust around the Sun.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22solar+system%22%22formation&ei=UTF-8&fr=yff35ck
You beat me to it. :)
Heh. I think I butted in on a question for you anyway. :)
Not intentional? You mean someone actually saw Mars as big as the full moon at some point in time?
The solar wind doesn’t cause warming. It consists of ions (electrically charged particles from the Sun). However, the 11-year solar cycle may very well influence Earth’s climate via its ability to (magnetically) repel incoming galactic cosmic rays. GCRs are much higher energy charged particles which come from outside the solar system. They are believed by some scientists to assist in the formation of thick low cumulus clouds, the type that *block* sunlight and help keep the planet cool. When the sunspot cycle is near a peak, less GCRs are able to reach Earth (creating these ‘cooling clouds’) and temps rise...naturally.
Those CO2 producing earthlings make me very angry.
LOL!!!
Our entire education system should begin to use such easily understandable pictorial representations, LOL.
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