Mars is unusually bright tonight...

[Xyla]

So who's been Mars watching?
We had a total blackout last night due to some gale-force winds, so with all the lights out, and me living up in the mountains, the night sky was truly spectacular and Mars was so BRIGHT, it was amazing, I've never seen anything quite like it...

Of course all this mars watching and Mars being so bright does make me chuckle because of those fab centaurs :D

[xKatiexBellx]

Ah, we have a centaur in our midst:eek:

[Fleurdelacour]

*raises hand* I've been watching! :D

When the night has been really clear, I can see it glinting away in the south :)

The other day it was really cloudy - and supposedly Mars was closest to Earth then it could ever get... *grumbles*

Does anyone know where the star Sirius actually is? Is it bright enough to be seen in red skies?

[Cedric]

I've been watching for about a month now. Mostly off and on, haven't seen it in a few nights. Though I have heard that the peak is tomorrow night, so don't fret Felur ;)

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

Ah that's all right then... Still cloudy though...

[Lanen]

Peak is August 27th. Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in 60,000 years. So says my husband the astronomer.

It's just *gleaming* in my office window when it isn't cloudy...

[Remus]

I've been watching it for about 4 weeks and got confused because I thought it was Mars because it was reddish but it looked too bright. I hope it's not cloudy tomorrow night, I'd really like to see it at its peak.

[Xyla]

i know, i was really shocked when i saw it too, almost like 'That CAN"T be it.." cause it was almost TOO bright :D
Just spectacular.

[Moxie]

'Twas cloudy here last night :( hopefully tonight will be nicer and if I'm really lucky Mars will be above the surrounding forest canopy (Yeah, we have really good viewing conditions here... overhead.)

[ChianaWeasley]

It rained!!!!
RAINED!!!
:jawdrop:
The only time Mars will be the closest it's ever been in the next 50,000 years and it was cloudy and rainy!!!!!

It would figure

I bet the centaurs were just as annoyed last night
;)

[Cedric]

They said on an early show this morning that it'll be this close in about another 200 years.

Just gotta hope for a long life pill Chiana :D

I plan on living forever, so it's really no problem.

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

Why we have our very own Nicolas Flamel! Mind giving me some of that Elixir of Life? (woah... reading PS seems like years ago...)

Yup... Cloudy here too... All I can see when I stick my head out the window is a load of red clouds :rolleyes:

I think it's amazing... 50,000 years ago the cavemen probaly didn't even know what mars was, and now it's what 35 miles from earth :) And we actually know what it is, and there's a robot or something on it (right?...) Just amazing :)

[Cedric]

No, I'm just gonna live forever naturally ;)

You mean 35 million miles, right Fleur? :D and I think its 350 million miles, 35 seems WAY too close. I just wanna know why we're not sending people up there, I mean that's really close right? It's all a government plot I tells ya!

I think we'll drive out of town tonight to see it. Lucky it's been nice.

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

I siriusly read that on Teletext about an hour ago! It said Mars was 35 miles away from Earth at about 11am this morning! Unless they made a mistake... I was thinking that was a bit close... But it's like 2.20am, the writers are probaly half asleep too :p

I reckon they didn't even send the astronaughts to the moon... The American flag was waving in the pictures I saw... As space is a vacumm the flag wouldn't have been billowing like that... Unless my old science teachers are wrong :p

[Moxie]

Originally posted by Fleurdelacour
I siriusly read that on Teletext about an hour ago! It said Mars was 35 miles away from Earth...

:rotfl: ROAD TRIP! :rotfl:

[Cedric]

Lol!! If we get ourselves a big enough trampoline we'll be up there in no time! Oh my.... That would be really funny if they didn't do that on purpose :D Just imagine if it was 35 miles away from any one point on earth, you'd look up into the sky and see nothing but red :D

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

lol! Ah Ced, then you should go to your nearest city when it's cloudy because all you'd see is red ;) (not going to bed until there is a break in the clouds!)

Maybe someone ought to tell the Teletext peoples they're rather wrong... :p

[Xyla]

we had a lovely clear night sky, as they all have been of late.. bwahahahaha I love Australian "winters" (it was 22 degrees C. here yesterday)

[Lanen]

Fleur -

35 miles would make it hugely closer than the moon, and we would all be seriously dead because if it were that close it'd be crashing into us! those teletext folks SERIOUSLY need a proofreader!

NASA says 56 million km, which would I guess translate into about 35 million miles. ish.

[xKatiexBellx]

Originally posted by ChianaWeasley
It rained!!!!
RAINED!!!
:jawdrop:
The only time Mars will be the closest it's ever been in the next 50,000 years and it was cloudy and rainy!!!!!

It would figure

I bet the centaurs were just as annoyed last night
;)

Ah, poor you, there was a storm last night here too, though I doubt it was the night Mars was close;)

Though I haven't seen a storm in years. The lightning was magnificent!

[Cedric]

Yeah yeah, I heard 35 million last night too. Doesn't that seem way to close to only be able to see it as a tiny speck not much bigger than a star??

It was really nice last night, one of those nights were you can see every star in the sky. Really beautiful.

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

Lanen. I know that, that's what the article on Telextext said. No need to patronise me :rolleyes:

Didn't see it... I eventually gave up at 4am... Really pissed with that...

[Lanen]

:o Fleur - sorry, me dear, I KNOW you knew, I never meant to be patronising. I was VERY tired when I wrote that, my apologies if it came across the wrong way. I was just :rolleyes: at the teletext folks, who have a history of gaffes almost as impressive as the Grauniad (the Guardian, for you non-UK types, a newspaper notorious for its typos).

sorry!

[ChianaWeasley]

A night where you see every star in the sky?
Aw! I love nights like those, and I really wanted to see
Mars. Blast it! Ced is right if only i had a trampoline! ;)

[Lord Schaudt]

I have been wathcing, went a a star party witht the local astronomy club, im investing in my own big scope soon to

[xKatiexBellx]

I saw mars a couple weeks ago, I was going to the Drive-Ins with my Dad, It was bright!