Marswatch Canada 2005
Mars Today
Courtesy NASA/JPL
Mars observations for the 2005 opposition Submitted by Canadian observers. Drawings and images of observations during the period surrounding the 2005 opposition of Mars.
CANADIAN MARSWATCH….WHY?
When I first conceived of creating a Canadian Marswatch website in 2004, it was with the intention of helping amateurs in this country join the international community of planetary observers by exhibiting their work in a globally accessible forum.
The idea being to encourage drawing and imaging the planets, particularly Mars to help observers enhance their observing skills and see more while at the eyepiece.
The site is primarily aimed at newer observers to encourage them to overcome the attitude that ‘my work isn’t good enough to publish’ and to give a uniquely Canadian perspective.
The other primary aim is to gather data, when I can’t observe because of work or weather, someone in another part of the country can and then the results can be assembled in one place where changes in Martian weather, dust storms, albedo feature changes, and clouds can be monitored and tracked. Another objective was to be able to display the work of both advanced amateurs as well as newbies, through a variety of instrument types and aperture sizes to give a complete picture as to what to expect when observing Mars.
All observations recorded by any means are accepted and posted, accompanied by data on instrumentation, sky and seeing conditions, whether drawings, photos or processed webcam images. Links to articles and websites are provided on the page so that one can access related information as well as how to observe and record as well as sources of maps, drawing forms, and software to enhance the planning stage of observations.
It is my hope that as Mars draws ever closer that many will observe and contribute.
Mars Drawing Forms:
Mars Observers Toolkit Mars drawing form
Images:
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Antoniadi seeing scale:
I - Perfect seeing without a quiver.
II - Slight undulations, moments of calm lasting several seconds.
III - Moderate seeing with larger air tremors.
IV - Poor seeing; constant troublesome undulations.
V - Very bad seeing; even a rough sketch impossible.
Generally recorded as 'Seeing Antoniadi III'
CMC seeing scale: Used by clear sky clocks
V ….. Perfect motionless diffraction pattern.
IV….. Light undulations across diffraction rings.
III….. Central disc deformations. Broken diffraction rings.
II…… Important eddy streams in the central disc. Missing or partly missing diffraction rings.
I……. Boiling image without any sign of diffraction pattern.
Whenever I observe Mars and make a drawing, these former observers come to mind.
Antoniadi's 1896 map.
See also Thomas Cave & Mars Observing
See also Thomas Cave's Observatory
Tsuneo Saheki A Japanese Legend
Charles (Chick) Capen Biography
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