From William Patrick SHEEHAN
® . . . . . . . .Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 12:22:17 -0600
Subject: mars
Dear Masatsugu,
I am sure you will make over 1000 drawings
this apparition.
I have started to work on the details of my
visit to
Meanwhile, I shall continue to send you more
of the Mars drawings in the next few days, until you have all of them. I shall also include information about dates,
times, and the like. I am very pleased
that they are of interest to you. The
Lick web site appears to have moved now to
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/TwoWeeksOnMars/drawings.html
More very soon,
® . . . . . . . Date:
Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:53:13 -0600
Subject: RE:
mars
Dear Masatsugu,
Many thanks for your excellent
communications.
I shall gladly now supply you with the data
for the drawings posted on the web site.
They are a subset of the 38 drawings I actually made at Lick. I hope to furnish you with thumbnails of all
the others at some stage -- they have not yet been represented with black
backgrounds in conformity to the rest, alas.
I shall send you two drawings showing later
parts of the planet as well as two from August 28, which was the first night I
observed at Lick, commenced at 7:00 and 7:20 UT respectively.
The drawings are presented in the order that
they should appear according to the actual rotation of the planet, which means
in general backward to the order in which they were obtained.
I shall capture
First row, left to right:
September
12, 2003, 4:35-4:50 UT. Seeing 4/5 on Antoniadi
scale. 36-inch refractor stopped
to 20 inches, with binocular eyepiece magnifying 644x. Wratten 25 and
neutral-density filters.
September
12, 2003, 5:45-6:15 UT. Seeing 3-5. 644x.
September
11, 3003, 5:20-5:40 UT. Seeing 3/5. 644x.
September
12, 2003, 7:20 - 7:40 UT. Seeing 3/5. 644x.
September
11, 2003, 6:20-6:40 UT. Seeing 3/5. 644x.
Second row, left to right:
September
7, 5:45-6:00 UT. Seeing 4/5. 644x.
September
6, 5:45-6:00 UT. Seeing 3/5. 644x.
September
5, 5-5:30 UT. Seeing 3/5. 644x.
September
6, 6:45 UT. Seeing 4/5. 644x.
September
4, 5:20-5:45 UT. Seeing 4/5. Plossl
eyepiece magnifying 487x.
Third row, left to right:
September 5, 6:30-7:00 UT. The seeing
softened as the wind picked up and was only 2/5 during the time of the
drawing. Very jumpy,
i.e., usual image. (I have been spoiled by the exquisite seeing until
now.) 487x.
September 4, 6:40-7:00 U.T. Seeing 4/5. 487x.
September 3, 8-8:30 U.T. 487x. Seeing 4/5.
September 2, 7:45-8:00 UT. 487x. Seeing
4/5.
August 31, 7:15-7:45 UT. 487x. Perfect seeing.
Fourth row, left to right:
August 31,
7:45-8:00 UT. 487x. Perfect seeing. Planet was essentially motionless -- like a
steel engraving.
August 29,
8:20-8:30 UT. 487x. Perfect seeing.
August 29,
8:15-8:45 UT. 487x. 4/5.
® . . . . . . . .Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 11:49:49 -0600
Subject: RE:
mars
Dear Masatsugu,
I may have mistyped that line -- I will
double check the observing notebook and send the correct data.
All the best, yours,
® . . . . . . . .Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 12:06:42 -0600
Subject: RE:
mars
Dear Masatsugu,
Thank you for finding that error. That last drawing should be given as 7:15 to
7:45 UT, August 29, 2003. I did indeed
make an error in transcription.
Meanwhile, the drawings from August 27-28
bounced back to me so I shall try to resend them.
All best, yours,
® . . . . . . . .Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 14:43:29 -0600
Subject: RE:
Still topsy-turvy
Dear Masatsugu,
Thank you for the message and I appreciate
all the information. It sounds excellent
and I am wondering if it is time for me to start inquiring about plane tickets
to arrive shortly before May 1. I note
the itinerary is slightly different from the last message.
I will try to immerse myself in Japanese
language and culture beforehand, but I have much to learn.
Meanwhile, the web site, with the Mars
drawings, looks marvelous. On the
subject of drawing Mars from a left vs. right hemisphere perspective, you may
find the following of interest. I had
quoted Picasso to Tony Misch, who was trained as an
artist, and he responded with a very interesting view:
Mars by Trumpler, Ambrois Vollard by Picasso.
"If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes."
Interesting
coming from the father of cubism, an approach to representation with a very
self-conscious contribution from the brain. I'd actually
been thinking, even before you sent this, about the connection between Lowellian drawings of Mars and the flowering of abstraction
in art at about the same time. There are at least superficial resemblances.
Just for fun I've juxtaposed a detail from
Picasso's 1910 portrait of Ambrois Vollard and a drawing of Mars from a 1931 English dictionary:
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/TwoWeeksOnMars/picasso_vizetessy.jpg
Bill SHEEHAN (
