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Originally Posted by space lover
Nice pic asimov 
But is Mars really that hard to take a shot of? Everyone seems to be "giving up" |
Hi spacelover - (hope you don't mind if I answer this one Asi) As each day passes now Mars shrinks more and more as it recedes from us. It's peak size at closest approach back around November 1 2005 was around 20arc sec, whereas by now it has shrunk to just under 10arc sec diameter which means less than one quarter the area and so detail is becoming very hard to image. About 8 arc sec is the smallest you'll see any detail for Mars and it will be below that by Mid Feb. Couple that with the appearance of the "big uns" Saturn and Jupiter in the morning sky and it's understandable that people view mars as well passed it's best and turn to other things.
Don't worry though, I'll (and no doubt Asi and a few others) will be following Mars for a while yet
cheers,