ScottyK
Contributor
So I just spent three hours in the car. An hour and a half on the way to Secret Beach for a night dive, only to find crashing surf and zero vis. This was followed by, you guessed it, an hour and a half back without so much as getting my toes wet :shaking:
Anyway, I noticed that Mars was out, and broke out my trusty Meade ETX telescope. I wound up salvaging my evening with an hour of cool planet watching.
Mars is closer than it's been in hundreds of years, and I believe it will be a few thousand more before it's this close again. I was even able to pick out one of Mars' two moons, but didn't have a strong enough lens to tell whether it was Phobos or Diemos.
Mars will be in good viewing position for a few more weeks. You don't need a real powerful telescope to get a good look. If anyone has one in the closet collecting dust, now would b a good time to break it out. At least until the vis improves
Scott
Anyway, I noticed that Mars was out, and broke out my trusty Meade ETX telescope. I wound up salvaging my evening with an hour of cool planet watching.
Mars is closer than it's been in hundreds of years, and I believe it will be a few thousand more before it's this close again. I was even able to pick out one of Mars' two moons, but didn't have a strong enough lens to tell whether it was Phobos or Diemos.
Mars will be in good viewing position for a few more weeks. You don't need a real powerful telescope to get a good look. If anyone has one in the closet collecting dust, now would b a good time to break it out. At least until the vis improves
Scott
