Has anyone been impressed with Mars yet?

[SaveABug]

I wanted to look last night (when I guess it was the closest), but it was cloudy. I plan to look again tonight with a small telescope. Is it worth the trouble?

Anyone notice any bodily or emotional changes due to the closeness of this magnificent celestial body? I personally feel my gut has temporarily pooched out a bit, though that could be due to the beer. Emotionally, I feel fairly stable.

[Blue_Chill]

1. Does it really have an effect on us?

please explain.

[SaveABug]

3. I have no clue

as usual. I would guess there are experts in the influence of planetary bodies on humans. I'm not one of them.

If it is impressive, it would have an effect visually and emotionally.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Well, I doubt it's because of Mars,

but for the last two days I've been down with the Hershey Squirts something terrible.

I think it's due to the sub-7-11 quality food they give us at work, which I will NEVER eat again.

[Aristus]

4. My wife's been on a rip lately, but blaming Mars is almost as idiotic

as blaming Clinton.

[MrBenchley]

5. Even without a telescope

it's been very bright...even through light clouds.

But you're not going to get any effect from it except trhruogh an overactive imagination. Astrology is a load of hooey.

[SaveABug]

6. Try telling that to my pooching out gut!

I BELIEVE!!!!!!! :)

[MrBenchley]

7. Have about ten drops of

Angostura bitters in a glass of club soda...your tummy will settle right down (old bartender's trick).

[goobergunch]

8. Yes...

depending on your magnification, scope aperture, and whether or not you use filters. It was beautiful in my 10-inch Dob (high power, filters).

[slackmaster]

9. I stayed up late to see it last night

Sky was very clear. Through my crappy 3.5" refractor at 117x magnification it looked like an orange lentil at arm's length, with the polar cap discernable. I've never seen a feature on Mars with that lame of a telescope before. It was worth staying up.

[Bossy Monkey]

10. It was clouded over here, too, but Hayden Planetarium's site says

it will be nearly as bright for the next two months, so don't worry too much about missing the maximum approach

[BiggJawn]

11. It's been dissappointing.

I only have a 60mm scope, but I have gotten incredible views of Jupiter and Saturn with it.
Summer skies here in the Midwest are like trting to see to the bottom af a farm pond. The air's thick, hazy, and just not worth the trouble.

all that said, I was about 5 miles outside town last night and flipped off my headlight when I stopped for a drink (night bike ride) and I thought "Wow! the Milky Way!" So i may schlepp the scope out of town tonight and take a look...Wait, there's supposed to be storms....

[pmbryant]

12. Yes

But it takes the right equipment to see it well.

I went to a public viewing last night, where the local astronomy club had set up a couple dozen telescopes or so in a parking lot at a local college. There was a huge crowd.

The view through the scopes with the steadiest mount, and thus able to achieve the highest magnification, was truly spectacular. (Alas, these thus had the longest lines, as people actually took their time looking at the planet though them.) The ice cap was extremely prominent and many more subtle shading differences across the planet were quite noticeable as well.

The view though unsteady scopes was disappointing. (You could tell which ones these were since there were no lines at all at these scopes.) Wobbly, small, indistinct. In some of these, one could barely make out the ice cap even.

--Peter