Tonight I'll be 39 Miles from Mars

[ZMan]

What ever. I thought it was too far out to be true, and it was told to me in passing... so yes, I should have thought more about that. I'm an ass.

Once again, my bad.

eh I wouldn't say you're an ass, I'd say your teacher is an ass and needs to read more astronomy related material (credible that is).

 

[LittleBigFoot]

no, let him take his pics, it might give a good laugh

Wait, are you joking about the first mistake I made about thinking Mars was gonna be wicked huge tonight? Or taking pictures in the dark?

 

[Mutant Pony]

It is too cloudy here to see anything. I'll keep looking though.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Yeah Mutant Pony, we've got some cloud cover here, but it's startin to blow over.

 

[MAKG]

You can take pictures in the dark with a long enough exposure.

However, earth's rotation starts to be a problem after not very long. That's why (decent) telescopes have equatorial mounts and motor drives. This is essentially the difference between a camera and a small refracting telescope. Focus on infinity and blast away. You WILL need a tripod and remote shutter.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

My dad was a pro photographer for twenty years. I've got it all. Photography is my other hobby

 

[LIMA BEAN]

I will be out scoping the eclipse tonite up here in Alaska. I have a 900MM FL X 4.5 D scope on a equitorial mount. Should be pretty cool.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Well, we had tons of cloud cover till 2ish in my neck of the woods. When they cleared, we were able to sight Mars, but it was nothing spectacular. The only way we got a "good" look is cause some dude brought his telescope. It was still pretty fun tho.

Hahaha, maybe we'll just have to wait till 2287 to see if this one is true, lol

 

[ryan]

Bah, I only live about 10 regular miles from Mars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars%2C_Pennsylvania

when i was in first or second grade my family was driving somewhere on vacation and we drove through there. i remember saying i went through mars and people denied it existed. i have no idea why i still remember that

 

[jv982]

Yeah this is an old hoax. Check out snopes: http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

Y
However, earth's rotation starts to be a problem after not very long. That's why (decent) telescopes have equatorial mounts and motor drives.

You are fully of all sorts of interesting, and useless information.

 

[krugford]

Wait, are you joking about the first mistake I made about thinking Mars was gonna be wicked huge tonight? Or taking pictures in the dark?

I was talking about the bigger than life Mars thing. If you are in a position to get a pic of the lunar eclipse, then that would be sweet.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Oh, ok. I didn't know what to respond to Krugford. We had too much cloud cover during the eclipse. I slept through class all day cause we were out so late. I'm was bummed.

 

[MAKG]

Well, such is the risk astronomers take every time they go observing (except with spaceborne telescopes). At least you have dark skies within 1000 miles, unlike quite a lot of people on this board. I seem to recall a permanent amateur astronomer site on the top of Mt. Evans. Buy a red flashlight and contact your local astronomy club. It's a good bet there will be SOMEthing going on there when dark nights resume in about a week. Any dry site well away from city lights works, but it's best to have a site withlow horizons and high altitude. There ought to be a billion good spots off some county road a few dozen miles east of I-25, well north or south of Denver.

 

[JohnnyO]

You are fully of all sorts of interesting, and useless information.

That's what MAKG brings to the table, and it is great.

 

[Will]

I was up for the eclispe. I drug the kids out of bed and we all sat out and watched from about 10 minutes before the earth started to cover the moon until the moon set--about 40 minutes after the whole thing went dark.

I took several pictures--one is my avatar, but it was with my 10x optical zoom digital camera. Hard to get clear shots after 4 cups of coffee but I'll put the best here in order...click for full size.

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