From Thomas A DOBBINS
® . . . . . . . .Date:
From: Tom
Dobbins <r&d@organictech.com>
To: <
Subject: Mars
news
On
Please see my
remarks inserted below...
> Dear Tom,
>
> Thank you
for your nice instruction before for the flare
> observation on Mars.
>
> We are
going to start tomorrow (30 July) and repeat five nights
> until 3 August under ISHADOH's
superintendence in
> expecting
De=Ds will occur on 1 August.
>
> Members
and instruments are not adequate, and so we just choose
> no more than the possible hours. We suppose the reflector on
> Mars is
put lateral in a shallow trench.
>
> Recently
the phase angle decreased to 25 degrees and so since
> 25/2 ~15 degs, we shall start one hour before the point comes to
> the CM and basically quit observing when the candidate place
>
reaches the CM. Is it OK? Should we prolong our
watching time?
Perhaps by as much as two hours from the time of CM
transit... I hope that the news of flares on July 22
Paul will be joining the gathering at my home on August 4
that will include Don Parker, Walter Haas,
John Westfall, Bill Sheehan, Richard Schmude, Eric
Ng, Tan Wei-Leong, and Ed Grafton. ("The greatest concentration of talent since Thomas
Jefferson dined alone at
> It is
however difficult to choose the object point. Maybe
>
Yes, probably
the best candidate.
> Do you see
the yellowish white haze is now covering the whole
> surface of the red planet, and it has become the Yellow
Planet?
> The
details are still seen (just because the angular diameter is
> de-ja
extraordinary) but the markings are quite obscured and the
> gradation of the markings has been decreased. ToUcammunists just
> want the
details, and so the most of recent ccd images without
> the description of thin overall yellowish-white haze look
> nonsense for study. I hope the obscuration does not obstruct
the
> flare
observations.
I enjoyed a splendid view of Mars on the morning of 26 July
under conditions of very stable air but poor transparency (fog). You are
correct, the contrast between the maria
and deserts is quite muted compared to early June 2001.
By the way, I suspect a subtle change in the albedo feature known as Aryn on
old maps - this bright indentation in the "underside" (i.e. the
northern side) of Meridiani Sinus seems darker and reduced in extent compared
to 2001, making the characteristic two-pronged "fork" appearance of
"
I am pleased to report that the Adirondack Atmospheric
Dispersion Corrector performs very well, and this device (consisting of a pair
of counter-rotating 2-degree wedge prisms) has made it possible for me torecord beautiful color video of Mars at an elevation of
less than 30 degrees without red and blue fringes. (In the
coming weeks I will extract some still images from these tapes.) Parker
has also been using one successfully in the Keys during the past week.
> In
> miss the chance during the time when we are temporarily
clouded.
> At the
> skies every night at that
season?
No, summer weather in the Keys can be poor due to the onset
of the Atlantic hurricane season every June. During our 2001 visit the skies
over the Keys remained clear almost by a miracle - a powerful storm churning
over the
Tom DOBBINS (