planet mars is coming=which lens, film etc.

[papisa]

The planet Mars will be here from Aug. 22 to the 27, it will be the closest to earth than it has ever been. Just look up mars in august.
The only two lens i have are FD50mm 1:18 SC and a FD24mm 1:2.8 SSC, i have a Canon AE-1 old one SLR.
Film=100, manual setting, set to bulb, lens setting to F/11 or F/16, open the shutter like maybe 10 to 20 seconds, i used this for shooting fireworks. Any other ides for this on what to do or use, could not find out how fast it will be moving.
Thanks, Mike.

 

[Ole]

You need a whopping big telescope anyway. Even a 1000mm will only show it as a small dot!

It moves at just about the same speed as everything else in the sky: 15 degrees per hour, as the earth rotates.

 

[Tom A]

THAT is some very very old news!!!
It was back in August 2003 that Mars was closer to earth than it has ever been. At this moment Mars is almost at the opposite side of the Sun as seen from earth, and Mars would not be back in the nigth / evening sky until summer 2007.

If you want to photograph Mars, you will need at large telescope - Last time I photographe Mars, I did it with at 25 cm telescope and a focallength of approximatly 30 meter, even then Mars was only 2 mm across.

Tom

 

[papisa]

Old news equals the correct news now.
Earth is catching up with Mars that will be an encounter that will Culminate its Closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time mars will be this close is in the year 2287. Astronomers can be only certain that mars has not come this close to earth in the last 5000 or maybe 60,000 years before it happens again.
Mars will be within 34,649,589 miles to earth and will be next to the Moon, the brightest object in the sky, it will appear in 25.11 arc seconds wide and it will attain a magnitude of -2.9.
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
No one Alive Today will ever see this again.

Mike.

 

[Leon]

Old news equals the correct news now.
Earth is catching up with Mars that will be an encounter that will Culminate its Closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time mars will be this close is in the year 2287. Astronomers can be only certain that mars has not come this close to earth in the last 5000 or maybe 60,000 years before it happens again.
Mars will be within 34,649,589 miles to earth and will be next to the Moon, the brightest object in the sky, it will appear in 25.11 arc seconds wide and it will attain a magnitude of -2.9.
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
No one Alive Today will ever see this again.

Mike.

Mike - I suggest you read this:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_mars_encounter.htm

and this

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050708_mars_hoax.html

 

[uraniumnitrate]

Any planetary observatorium around you? That would be your sollution! nice detail rich image and you don't had to enlarge!

 

[Jim Jones]

. . . Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
No one Alive Today will ever see this again.

Mike.

At least this may prove to be true, if we send a manned expedition to Mars.

 

[Lee L]

Old news equals the correct news now.
Earth is catching up with Mars that will be an encounter that will Culminate its Closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time mars will be this close is in the year 2287. Astronomers can be only certain that mars has not come this close to earth in the last 5000 or maybe 60,000 years before it happens again.
Mars will be within 34,649,589 miles to earth and will be next to the Moon, the brightest object in the sky, it will appear in 25.11 arc seconds wide and it will attain a magnitude of -2.9.
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
No one Alive Today will ever see this again.

Mike.

Sorry, but this is dead wrong, and comes from an old, undated memo that's still circulating the internet and gets rehashed every year at this time since 2003 by people who don't check the facts.

The info you have is for 2003. Mars will be opposite the sun from earth this August, nearly as far away as it gets, and near the sun in the sky, so it will only be on the western horizon for a very short time during twilight in late August this year. In 2003 it was around 40 arcseconds in diameter. Late this August it will be 3.5 arcseconds in diameter, which is less than 1/1000 of one degree in diameter. No observatory near you will show any detail on Mars at this distance and apparent size. Mars will be 242 million miles away on Aug 25th, not 35 million.

In other words, this August is close to the worst possible alignment for viewing Mars.

Lee
(intro college astronomy lab instructor and observatory manager)

P.S. Mars at its closest approaches is about 25 arcseconds across, the moon is always in the neighborhood of 1800 arcsecond across. Mars is never more than approximately 1/72nd the diameter of the moon. Don't believe everything you read on the internet, even on APUG. (Even if I type it.)

 

[Carol]

Sadly this has become an annual hoax and does nothing to stimulate interest in the universe. It just makes people feel silly for getting caught out by it. What a shame.

On the other hand, tonight we had Jupiter 4 deg. from the 1st Quarter Moon. Now that's beautiful.

 

[srs5694]

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Others have dealt with aspects of the broad claim, but I'd like to just hammer this one home: Mars will never "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" from the surface of the Earth, short of major disruptions to planetary orbits (and that seems improbable, even over geological periods of time). Mars is bigger than the Earth's moon, but even at its point of closest approach, it's so much farther away that it's dwarfed by the moon. As others have said, the only way you're ever likely to get anything more than a red speck from a photo of Mars is to use a very big telescope -- that or get assigned to a NASA Mars mission.

 

[Lee L]

The only two lens i have are FD50mm 1:18 SC and a FD24mm 1:2.8 SSC, i have a Canon AE-1 old one SLR.

Mike,

Just ran the numbers. In late August 2006, if you use your longer lens, the 50mm, Mars will be about 0.009 mm diameter on the film. So if you do a 100X enlargment of the negative to a print, Mars will be almost 1 mm diameter on the print. I suspect it will appear larger than that unless you have a very good sample of the FD 50mm and use extremely high resolution film with great antihalation characteristics.

I'm writing this not to be facetious, but to try and get the facts across. Let me know if you want pointers to good information on astrophotography. It can be great fun if you have realistic expectations and understand what you're doing. And a lot can be done with a simple camera setup such as yours.

Lee

 

[Ole]

...
P.S. Mars at its closest approaches is about 40 arcseconds across, the moon is always in the neighborhood of 1800 arcsecond across. Mars is never more than approximately 1/45th the diameter of the moon. Don't believe everything you read on the internet, even on APUG.

In the original memo was a short sentence which seems to have got lost somewhere:

"Mars seen through a 75x telescope will look as large as the moon to the naked eye".

But that was in August 2003, as has been repeatedly pointed out.

 

[Markok765]

Pentax spotmatic with 1000 F8 super takumar with 2 2x enxtenders

 

[Ole]

Pentax spotmatic with 1000 F8 super takumar with 2 2x enxtenders

And a good tracking system - exposure will be LONG at f:32.

A decent reflector telescope is far cheaper and better - and often includes a good tracking system.

 

[Lee L]

In the original memo was a short sentence which seems to have got lost somewhere:

"Mars seen through a 75x telescope will look as large as the moon to the naked eye".

But that was in August 2003, as has been repeatedly pointed out.

Ole,

Very true, but somehow the qualifying information about comparing a relatively high power telescope view to a naked eye view is always dropped in the insidious versions that get propagated year after year.

Here's a link to some facts about the 2003 close approach: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/news/marsattacks.html
Which prompts me to correct something I posted earlier about 2003: Mars was only 25 arcseconds in diameter, or 1/72 the diameter of the moon, at its closest approach.

Lee

 

[Markok765]

do they cover 35mm? and can you mount a camera on it? you will also need specialized mounts i think. what F number are mosy telesocpoes?

 

[naturephoto1]

do they cover 35mm? and can you mount a camera on it? you will also need specialized mounts i think. what F number are mosy telesocpoes?

Marko,

Speed of the telescope will depend on the particular model- common sizes include an 8" folded mirror design such as a Celestron or a Meade. You will need an adapter for the camera in question. Adapters are available for most 35mm cameras and are a T type of mount. They should cover 35mm.

Rich

 

[Ole]

Most telescopes can be adapted to cover just about every conceivable film size from subminiature up to at least 8x10" plates.

And for most SLR cameras, there are adapters which fit a standard ocular (they're quite standardised as to diameter).

SLRs are not the best choise, especially if the camera has no mirror lock. Although I must admit that I've shot several thousand microscope pictures (similar setup and problems) with a fully automatic no-mirror-lock Pentax ME.

F-number depends on lots of things, and tends to increase with price and size and decrease with magnification

 

[Christopher Colley]

I remember the 2003 event, it was nice to see.

mars was what looked like a red star to my poor vision.. a red speck that was obviously red... but nothing more..

kind of cool but not life changing