Mars is getting ready for it's close up....

That's it!! I'm gettin' me a backyard telescope!!! I really wanna take advantage of this.

 

In a universe that is less than 10,000 years old, what does that first paragraph mean? Of course, I'm not implying you're a young-earther, WS.

Haruo

 

In a universe that is less than 10,000 years old, what does that first paragraph mean? Of course, I'm not implying you're a young-earther, WS.

Haruo </font>[/QUOTE]I'm not a young earther myself but all that really means is that IF you project the orbits backwards in time, you get that far back before you have Mars coming that close in the past. It does not mean, of course, in itself, that the orbits really did exist that long ago.

 

Received this from a friend this morning:

"The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

Share this with your children and grandchildren.
(NNE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN)


§ue

 

Well, except for Dick Clark.

 

I wonder if it will be close enough to see the face and the other structures that may have been built in the Cydonia region of Mars?

 

Not that close. Through a backyard telescope you should be able to make out the polar ice caps and maybe some of the larger surface features. The only way to really see small surface features is to send an orbiter to take pictures.

I'm not sure if you are being serious or sarcastic with the Cydonia comment, but the Mars Global Surveyor has returned much better images of the region than Viking orbiter that show them to be natural. Here's some pictures.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mgs_cydonia.html
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/moc_5_24_01/face/index.html
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/4_5_00_cydonia/

Enjoy!

 

Oh, you mean the naturally occurring landscape that resembles artificial structures in certain lighting conditions?

 

I am quite serious. I think it is an issue that needs to be definitively resolved. I understand NASA's reluctance though. It would cause evolutionists a bunch of trouble.

 

This evolutinist wouldn't be phased a bit by evidence of extra-terrestrial life. I would merely assume that life also had an evolutionary history!

But the so called face on Mars always did resemble a trick of light and shadow anyway.

But with your telescope, take a look, and see if you can spot the earlier embarrasment of projection into the face of Mars -
maybe you can spot the canals!

 

Ha ha.

But at this point I think Richard Hoagland has better points about the "face" than you do.

 

I saw it yesterday morning (4AM). Awesome.