www.whyville.net Sep 19, 2003 Weekly Issue



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Mars in Your Eye

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Near the end of the month of August -- the 27th to be precise -- Mars was at its closest to Earth in 60,000 years.  So close that with a pair of modern binoculars you can just make out the polar ice caps.  After that day, it started getting further and further away.  You can probably still easily spot this planet as the brightest, and of course, the reddest star in the sky. 

Note: if you have a video camera with really good zoom on it, you should be able to see it at about  the size (circle-wise) of a wine glass! Sometimes because of the atmospheric pressure it will seem to do a sort of flare.  If you pay close attention to these flares, you'll notice the red.  The flare normally becomes about the size of a Frisbee at its biggest.  Sometimes it's so big that you think you've just lost it and you'll have to start over, but do not worry -- the camera is only trying to get a good focus on it.  So don't move!

I wish you all the best of luck!

p.s. All sizes included in this article vary on the size of your TV.

 

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