Mars Closest To Earth In Nearly 60,000 Years

Ananova ^ | 8-13-2003

[Prodigal Son]

Often a good pair of binoculars will serve you better.

I have heard this as well. Thanks.

[dr_lew]

Often a good pair of binoculars will serve you better. Especially the 60-80mm (or larger) ones with a tripod mount.

Often, perhaps, but I don't think in this case. With my Celestron 9x63's Mars appears as a dazzling star. I think you need something like 100X magnification to get an appreciable view of the disk. This is not like comet observing, where you need aperture to get a bright image. With Mars you need the magnification just to dilute the brightness of a 60mm objective.

For under 100$, I don't think you can do better than a "beginner's" refractor.

[RadioAstronomer]

For under 100$, I don't think you can do better than a "beginner's" refractor.

Hope so. Most of the links said they were a mistake. I don't have enough personal data to make an informed decision. (Why I posted the links)

[RadioAstronomer]

See post #60 :-)

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Nice hardware!

[dr_lew]

For under 100$, I don't think you can do better than a "beginner's" refractor.

Hope so. Most of the links said they were a mistake. I don't have enough personal data to make an informed decision. (Why I posted the links)

Right. But this is not a contradiction of what I said. E.g. from the "absolutebeginners" site:

"For a few hundred dollars more you can purchase a scope that will bring years of enjoyment and delight. Department store scopes will only lead to boredom and frustration."

See? He's talking "a few hundred dollars more" and I'm talking $70 . The idea is that if you try to embark on a career as a serious amateur observer, you will wish you had put the $70 towards a $300 or $400 'scope. Maybe so, but if you want to see Mars on your on for cheap, you can do it with the $70 Walmart Meade. Don't spring for the $150 version of the same thing with the computer controlled mount. By me, that's a mistake!

[Aric2000]

Thanks Radioastronomer, that helped a great deal.

Will keep looking. ;)

[zeebee]

I wonder what the smallest scope would be that you could get a good look would be?

Here's a shot taken with a $200 60mm (2-1/2") zoom spotting scope and a coolpix digicam:

[RadioAstronomer]

Like I said, I don't know much about small scopes and the viewing quality. Thanks for the info.

[Aric2000]

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