Spotting Mars

[FrankS]

Hi, I have a Jupiter F 700 (Bushmaster) and I was wanting to know what the best way to see Mars would be and when etc? I'm in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne if that helps. Thanks people

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Sorry Frank, but Mars is not visable at the moment. He is round the other side of the sun at the moment.
If you don't mind getting up a bit early in the morning befor dawn, you'll find Saturn rising in the east.
Jupiter is rather low in the western sky in the early evening.
Good luck.

[ving (David)]

mars isnt out at the moment, someone will be able to tell you when tho

[stephenmcnelley]

Mars will be rising about 10.30pm on the 12th of November next year.

Below is some general info and data for that time and date, sorry if there is too much astro babble in there i dont understand it all yet myself!


Information about Mars


12 Nov 2007 11:11:04 PM (Julian day number 2454417.04935) Local Information

Apparent topocentric coordinates for the epoch of date

Right ascension:6h 54m 30.22s Declination:+24° 20' 14.8"Constellation:GeminiAltitude:1 2° 14' 56"Azimuth:55° 17' 47"Hour angle:19h 52m 28sRise:22h 5m 35sTransit:3h 21m 40sSet:8h 34m 6s
Star atlas chart numbers

Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas:Chart C-34Millennium Star Atlas:Charts 153-154 (Vol I)Sky Atlas 2000.0:Chart 5Uranometria 2000:Chart 138, Vol 1
Geocentric Information

Apparent geocentric coordinates for the epoch of date

Right ascension:6h 54m 29.487s Declination:+24° 20' 7.74"True distance:0.7033597 AU (105 million km)Horizontal parallax:12.50"
Heliocentric Information

Ecliptic coordinates for the epoch of date

Ecliptic longitude:71° 17' 41.0"Ecliptic latitude:+0° 40' 60.0"Radius vector:1.5229824 AU (228 million km)
Physical Information

Magnitude:-0.9Phase:0.928Phase angle:31.1°Elongation:127.4°Diamete r:13.31"Light time:0h 5m 51.0sCentre of the disk:Long 75.7°, Lat 7.2°Position angle of the north pole:340.1°Position angle of the bright limb:94.2°Pole visibility:The North pole is tilted towards the EarthPole illumination:The South pole is sunlitMass:6.4191e+023 kg (0.1074 x Earth)Mean equatorial radius:3397 km (0.5326 x Earth)Maximum angular diameter:17.9"Minimum geocentric distance:0.524 AUGeometric flattening:0.006476Sidereal rotation period:1d 0h 37m 23s Mean density:3.94 g/cm^3Geometric albedo:0.150

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Mars is visible in a few days time, but will be VERY VERY hard to see!!!

Mars enters the morning sky in November. However, it is very close to the horizon, deep in the twilight, and will be very difficult to observe. On November 20th, Mars is a handspan from the crescent Moon and Mercury, but is only just above the eastern horizon half an hour before Sunrise.

Happy hunting Mars fans.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Actually you can see Mars at the moment, but it will be very very very difficult and uninspiring. Mars is rising about 20 minutes before sunrise (about 4:30) and is only 3.7 arcsec (that's 0.0010277777777777~ of a degree ) wide. By the end of next month Mars will rise at about 3:30 so will be easier to spy.

An interesting challenge will come on the mornings of the 10th, 11th and 12th of December, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury will be only about 1 degree apart.

Check out this Events Calendar Link for the 11th.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Just beat me Ken

[acropolite (Phil)]

Frank, for a list of targets that you can view at the moment and a free printable southern hemisphere skymap try this site

[merlin8r]

Hi Frank,
The next opposition of Mars (the time when Mars is best seen from Earth) is on Christmas day next year. Even then it won't be fantastic, but it's the best you're going to get till around 2016 I think.

Clear skies,
Shane

[FrankS]

Thanks guys, that helps me a bit. Is there any websites that specialize in Mars astronomy at all with people just getting their own pictures up? I'm a bit of a nightowl anyway so I'll take a look if there is a clear morning one of these days, but any recent pictures would be helpful too(not NASA pics).

[iceman (Mike)]

If you search the solar system forum (here) for Mars pictures, you'll find some from the last apparition.

Mars is so tiny now, and for the next 6 months, that you won't find many images of it until well into next year.

You can be sure there'll be more talk about Mars as the season progresses - it's only just coming out from behind the Sun and opposition isn't until Dec 25th 2007!