[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Mars...

[Mike McCabe]

...will be as big as the full moon in the sky tomorrow night!...OK, not really, but it's been a common hoax since the internet came around and those who fall for it rank right up there with the folks who think that  special celestial events should only be scheduled for weekends, so they can see it too, right?
But what WILL happen tomorrow is that Mars will make its closest approach to Earth for this apparition, meaning that it will appear at its largest and brightest to us for many years to come. The month of December will be the single best timeframe to observe Mars telescopically for the foreseeable future. Mars oppositions are not all created equal, and this one falls right about up the middle between best (Mars comes very close) and worst (Mars stays far away). 
Mars oppositions don't start to improve again until the year 2031. Between now and then the planet will only appear smaller and dimmer at subsequent oppositions.

Mars is notoriously difficult to observe well. It's bright but frustratingly small in the eyepiece, and if the seeing is anything less than average or better it will just be a fuzzy orange blob. Patience is key, as is returning frequently to see what the sky holds for seeing conditions. Return often and you will be rewarded. You might see surface features, clouds, polar hoods and polar ice caps. One benefit of this year's opposition is that the planet culminates at 73° above the horizon as it crosses the meridian. At that height you've got a much better chance of having good seeing conditions than you do when the planet it riding lower in the sky. Still, it's likely that you'll have to go back again and again to make the best of it.
The last Mars opposition in 2018 was a pretty good one and I enjoyed many splendid observations of the red rock during that time. One of the things I also did then was to create a log form upon which I could record my observations. I found it to work pretty well and I'm looking forward to using it again throughout this December. The image below shows it and I'm sharing it with you it as a PDF attached to this email. 

This log sheet might come in handy for you when you're observing Mars. If you decide to use it and are wondering about the entries along the bottom row, you can find all that information for the time of your observation by using the Sky and Telescope Mars Profiler tool on their website.
And finally, I leave you today with this; Mars has intrigued and enamored everyone one from peasants to kings and everything in between for eons. It has inspired everything from the wildest speculation to the some of the most advanced technological achievements that man can muster, and has been at the center of many a poetic prose. Take the example below, which was penned by Everett H. Redfield, one of the original founders of the Springfield Telescope Makers;

THE TELESCOPE MAKERS DREAM

I dreamed that the Springfield Telescope Club
Took a trip to the planet Mars,
And established ourselves on a mountain top
From which to view the stars.

That we carried a monster telescope-
A 'scope of most wonderful power,
And watched the stars and worlds roll by
For many countless hours.

And the sights we saw in realms beyond
The vision of this worlds eyes,
Were a ceaseless wonder and endless source
Of pleasure and surprise.

When the people of Mars inquired who we were,
And where was the land of our birth,
We turned that telescope around
'Till it pointed at the earth.
And told them to look and see for themselves
The land from whence we came,
And if all went well we hoped to return
To our native land again.

And when they had looked to their heart's content,
And examined the whole world o'er,
They said such a wonderful telescope
They had never seen before.

They saw great cities and towns on the land,
And ships that sail on the sea,
And questioned us closely of all that they saw
And wondered that such things could be.

Then a wise old Professor said "Tell me I pray,
What are those black bugs that I see
That run 'round so lively and in such great droves,
They're a new kind of insect to me."

"Please tell me their names and habits of life,
For we have no such insects on Mars".
Mr. Fullam spoke up and said, "My dear sir,
Those insects are Henry Ford cars".

We dwelt with those people a year and a day
And found them a people of worth,
But then we were homesick and thought it was time,
That we should return to the earth.
We bade them farewell and they wished us bon voyage,
And left them with sincere regret,
We felt well repaid with discoveries made,
And their kindness we'll never forget.

Of our journey to earth I have nothing to tell -
I felt a hard bump on my head,
I suddenly woke 'twas the end of my dream,
I found I had rolled out of bed.

EVERETT H. REDFIELD, Springfield Telescope Makers

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