LtE in CMO #275
From Thomas A DOBBINS
® . . . . . . . .Date: Wed, 23 July 2003 22:46:24 -0400
To: <PaulAtkinson22@aol.com>
Subject: Mars Reflection Flare
Dear Paul:
A truly splendid observation, and a
very gratifying one in that it is in keeping with what theory and geometry
would predict! Congratulations - you are now a member of a remarkably select
group - only three dozen observers or so have ever witnessed these phenomena!
Please see
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_982_1.asp
The CM at 9:53
UT on 22 July was 85.5 degrees; the Declination of the Sun
from Mars was 20.0 degrees South; the Declination of
the Earth from Mars was 17.7 degrees South. Your description "just to the
northeast of Solis Lacus in the direction of Mare Sirenum" would put the
site of the flare near Phasis, just north of 20 degrees South latitude;
geometry for a non-inclined specular reflector on
Mars predicts (20.0 + 17.7)/2 = 18.9 degrees South latitude. In the absence of a sketch, I can only make an
educated guess about the longitude, but it would seem to be around 110 degrees,
suggesting that the reflector was appreciably inclined on an east-west axis in
a fashion eerily similar to the 2001 flares at Edom!
If you wish, I can send an illustrated Word-format document
with detailed information about these phenomena; the file size is about 800 kB, so I thought it wise to ask permission in advance
rather than forgiveness after the fact.
Kind regards,
Tom
Dobbins
----- Original Message -----
From: PaulAtkinson22@aol.com
To: park3232@bellsouth.net
Cc: kmdobbins@coshocton.com ;
dustymars@tnni.net ; mdauria@mdcc.edu
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 9:58 AM
Subject: Mars Reflection Flare
Gentleman,
Dr. Parker has asked me to elaborate on the flare I
observed from my location is in Ft. Myers, Florida on the morning
of July 22. I was using my C14 at 411x with an AP/Baader Binoviewer barlowed with 19 mm Televue
Panoptic EP's. Seeing was a 9 out of 10. I
estimated seeing at 0.5 arc seconds with very slight undulations as varying air
pockets moved through. Transparency
was 6/7 mainly due to early morning humidity levels. I need to correct my previous email due
to a typo. It was around 9:50 UT, not 10:50 as previously emailed.
At 9:50
UT I
was making out very good detail from Aurorae Sinus through Solis Lacus and into
Mare Sirenum. I estimate the
central meridian was around 85 degrees.
At approx. 9:53 UT I noticed a quick bright flash just to
the NE of Solis Lacus in-between Mare Sirenum. It was followed by a second dimmer glint
approximately 5 seconds later. The
first flash I would estimate to have lasted approximately ~1 second. This immediately drew my eye to this
region and allowed me to see the follow up glint that was less than 1
second. I saw nothing further after
that.
Subsequently, I observed the same region this morning (July 23) from 2:30 a.m. EST until 5:50 a.m. EST to see if it would be duplicated. I cannot claim to have seen anything
additional at this point.
I would certainly appreciate you keeping my informed should you have
similar results in this area.
Paul Atkinson
Tom DOBBINS (Coshocton, OH, USA)
kmdobbins@coshocton.com
Back to the LtE
Home Page
Jump to the LtE
Archives
Back to the CMO Home Page