Close Encounter to Mars

“Cool Deal!

(more Mars stuff)”

“I knew this would catch your eye.

we may have to make a batch of drinks and head up to our roof top for a Mars party!

wanna come?”

“During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the illuminated part of the disk, first at the Lick Observatory, then by Perrotin of Nice, and then by other observers. English readers heard of it first in the issue of Nature dated August 2. I am inclined to think that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge gun, in the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired at us. Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site of that outbreak during the next two oppositions.”

“Shore!

We can keep a lookout for flares, rent "The Martian Chronicles," drink some o' dat Red liquor and crank up some Holst on the skereo... <G>”

“just another ordinary(sp) day on a NYC roof top.”

“So crank up The Drifters... <VBG>

(and a little Orson Welles for dessert)


Those Martians should've worn their rubbers! They'll catch their death of cold, LOL!”

“LOL

my son loves to listen to the show.”

“CRAP! We should expect the visitors soon then.”

“No way am I sharing my Margarita, with little green men.

of cousre if they bring there own Lime, then thats another story.”

“Little Green Men, eh?

You should enjoy this, then. Look out for that link at the bottom... LOLOL!!”

“Hopefully they bring some galatic weed with them!”

“A friend of mine sent me this in an e mail. It reiterates a lot of what what stated already, but makes some of the pertinent information more concise for viewing Mars this August...



CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH MARS
>
>
>
>
>This month and next Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter
>that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in
>recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due
>to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit,
>astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to
>Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years.
>
>
>
>The encounter will culminate on August 27 when Mars comes to
>within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest
>object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will
>appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75 power magnification Mars
>will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
>
>
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>Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, it will
>rise in the east at 10 pm and reach its azimuth at about 3 am. But by
>the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at
>nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 am. That's
>pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has
>seen in recorded history.
>
>
>
>So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars
>grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
>
>
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>Share this! No one alive today will ever see this again.”

“Where's that Slim Whitman tape...?”

“Hey Tilt. I missed something there about the Slim Whitman tape. ???”

“Treebeard- remember the movie "Mars Attacks!"?”

“And the Yodeling?

(hint-hint)”

“Ahh yes! How could I forget? Treebeard bad!”

“Treebeard may have brain damage!!”

“...>astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to
Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years....

I wish I could have the freedom of inaccuracy in my job.”

“When I worked in sales (briefly and never again), they told me that if we sold at a rate of 15%, we would be making lots of money. i had to stop and think that if I was a surgeon and had that success frequency.....”

“Start storing water. The martians are probably already on their way.”

“What's the general opinion of "Mars Attacks"? I thought it was pretty funny.”

“Same here, Stick...”

“It had its moments...”

“A baseball player can fail 2 out of every 3 at bats and get inducted into the hall of fame.”

“Who was the weird chick with the big hair...? Didn't she play Vampira in Ed Wood?

a-ha... Lisa Marie”

“Where did you get that from must hike? What does that have to do with martians coming to Earth and destroying everything? How are you feeling today?”

“I’m Martian and I’m starting with this thread.”

“no need--all threads here self-destruct fairly quickly.”

“You've done it now, Jordy Verril!”

“My monitor is talking to me!”

“Ha, ha - They blew up Congress!”

“He made the international sign of the donut!”

“That would be a real shame!”

“plus, any movie where Jack Nicholson dies TWICE is a great flick.”

“Very true!”

“NASA Science News for August 7, 2003

The south polar ice cap of Mars is receding, revealing frosty mountains, rifts and curious dark spots. Got a telescope? You can see it yourself.


FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/07aug_southpole.htm?list112694”

“I could if the East Coast wasn't socked in with clouds for the past week or so.”

“Picky, picky :P”

“The freakin sky better clear up one of these days. i have a lonely telescope just waiting for the oppty”

“Are you threatening the sky, treebeard?”

“It seems to happen whenever there is something in the sky worth seeing. A damn commie plot, it is!”

“They've got some nifty gestures for that sort of thing... Up North thataway.”

“Yes, I am. And it keeps raining on me


And yes, the same happened with the last eclipse... missed that too”

“Try bribing the weather channel tree!”

“Which reminds me of a routine I saw Dom Irrerra do once....”

“They can't even get the weather right to begin with...”

“Yep! We've gone from an 8-year drought to full-and-about-to-overflow lakes and rivers in the last 9 months. And we've gotten a downpour of almost an inch every other day all Summer long.

Somewhere in the world, someone inherited our drought.”

“The peak time for this is getting closer. Article in today's news site...

Mars”