topic Re: The Red Planet. in The Round Table

The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 23:15:16 GMT

After cloudy nights, the clouds have finally parted so I can get another look at the Red Planet. Nice to see our neighbour even though it's about 34 million miles away?

At the moment (around 12:15am) it's East South East but during the night it'll appear to pan round through South to West.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 23:22:30 GMT

The sky has cleared again so I can see Mars now.

Due to the eliptical orbits of Earth and Mars around the Sun it can be around 250 million miles away from us at times.

Re: The Red Planet.

clute21 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 08:15:39 GMT

250 million miles away and ebay still estimate 3 day delivery.

Re: The Red Planet.

*knight-rider* — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:39:21 GMT

i`m glad you can see mars 🙂

there`s so much light pollution where i live, you can count the stars on one hand you can see on a clear night, very sad.

it fasinates the hell out of me space, i watch alot of docu`s on it, but what always gets me the most are the numbers involved, gets me everytime! We don`t realise how small we are really and don`t appreciate what we have and how special we are, probably never will till we have`nt got it anymore, i`ve said a number of times that the worst thing to happen to this planet, was us!

i heard a quote in a film years ago and have never forgot it, where someone was talking about us going to heaven when we pass, or something along those lines and the person they were talking to said, `has it ever occured to anyone that we are already there and we are just stuffing it up`.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:57:56 GMT

I can see loads of stars, but not as many that I would be able to see if there weren't so many street lights.

Although Merseyside is over 30 miles from here, it causes a glow in the sky. I managed to see the comet with binoculars when there was a gap in the clouds while Meseyside was obscured by dark clouds.

As to the Universe, we are just a tiny dot in it. There are billions upon billions of stars, and that's only in the Universe we know about. Also, what we know is really... "very little".

Space is so vast, to get anywhere, the speed of light is too slow. What people forget when talking/thinking of space travel is that even if we could accelerate to a terriffic speed, the force of acceleration would likely kill us and then there's the question of deceleration. Star Trek is great fiction and although some things "predicted" in it have, or partly have come true, the rest if it is just..... fiction.

Re: The Red Planet.

margaret*e — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:31:35 GMT

Too misty to see anything here again.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 23:18:07 GMT

It's cloudy but patchy so on looking out I can see Mars for a few minutes before the next cloud obscures it. Then they drift away and I can see it again.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 14:46:52 GMT

Last night Mars was visible between the clouds as they rolled around and it's appearing higher in the sky now.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 23:26:58 GMT

Mars can be easily seen at the moment, it's to the left of the Moon.

Re: The Red Planet.

fragmented_nog — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 21:42:54 GMT

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 23:11:26 GMT

Our planetary neighbour was clearly visible earlier this evening. It steadily rose above the horizon before the cloud obscured it by eleven o-clock.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 23:16:33 GMT

It was clear enough to see Mars again tonight and if it's clear in the early hours you might get a good view of Venus.

People often ask "What's that bright star?" It's not a star, it's Venus but it's often referred to as "The Morning Star".

At different times in it's orbit, it'll appear bright in the evening, then it's referred to as "The Evening Star". It's bright because it's reflecting the Sun off it's cloud cover.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 23:23:25 GMT

At this time of night, Mars is high in the Southern sky and easily visible as the clouds seem to have cleared.

Also, out East is what looks like a "funny, fuzzy cloud" but you'll see it's actually a star cluster if you have a look through a 'scope or binoculars. I don't have a 'scope, I just had a look through my binoculars.

Re: The Red Planet.

cee-dee — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 21:08:26 GMT

Mars is at it's closest approach tonight. It won't come as close for another 15 years. If you've a clear sky or a gap in the clouds it's easy to see even though it's nearly 40 million miles away.

I looked out not long ago and there it was through a gap in the clouds.