Solar
& Planetary LtE Now for CMO/ISMO #90 (CMO
#464)
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necessarily cited in the PDF’s CMO LtE
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¤····Subject: From
Bill Sheehan: obits and things
Received:
Dear Masatsugu,
I assume,
because I have not heard of you for a long time, that you must be quite
ill. However, I want not to bother you but to make you aware of some
things going on.
I am
sending the copy of an obituary of my friend Richard Baum, who passed away on
November 12 (same day as Percival Lowell 101 years before). This may be
appropriate for the CMO.
A book,
with Dale Cruikshank, on Pluto will be published by U of Arizona Press. This
also has chapters on
Finally,
I am planning with Rem Stone, Tony Misch, and Laurie Hatch to observe again
this coming summer on Mt. Hamilton, and would like to invite you, if you are
well enough by then to join us, for the occasion. We would not be
bothered by an Englishman of poor manners as last time.
All my
good wishes,
Bill
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hello,
Sending in the latest
Mars observation.
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171201/TWl01Dec17.png
Tim WILSON (
¤····Subject: Re:
Mars
Received:
Dear
I agree you must have caught a dust streak as that is the only explanation, as
Roger clearly writes. They were rather prominent in 2010, and there are also
records in 2012 of less prominent ones. What appears to have been another such
promising event in 2014 March to May turns out upon closer inspection to have
been a small rift cutting off an arc of the cap, the western end of which is
near longitude 340 and features on the polar map made by peach for April 2014.
Lo res images of it give the impression of dust spread over the cap but if you
look only at the sharpest ones it is clearly a rift. Given the improvement in
resolution over the previous comparable 1999 opposition we must be careful not
to label a previously unresolved seasonal detail as being a transient event! I
think mars is still too small for you to have clearly
caught
A series of observations is often needed in interpretation. I am thinking of
some marvellous images of the icy
One thing more about a Rima T, though. In 1980 when Rima Tenuis was reported,
those reports lasted over at least three months, so if some could have been
interpreted as a dust streak, not all of them could. It is also likely the
observers were misled by viewing chasma boreale from the sinus sabaeus side, for it curves round to nearly meet the edge of the cap
there. Lack of resolution and the human brain would do the rest by completing
the rift. The other reason for writing this is that although there were
sightings of the rift from the sabaeus end, there was but one drawing or photo
that showed a mere indentation in the outline of the cap at the opposite side.
As I pointed out at the time, you cannot have a rift bisecting the cap if it
does not come out the other side! But I am certainly now coming to the view
that certain past observations can be explained as dust streaks rather than
observer error.
I have now nearly completed the 2014 report which will feature a lot of your
work, and reports for 2010 and 2012 now wait for space in the Journal.
Good wishes and keep up the good work,
Richard McKIM (
¤····Subject: Re:
Mars
Received:
By the way, your
image is with CM about 180 degrees from Sanchez's excellent image of such a
streak at Ls 89 on 2010 Feb 2. It appears that you've imaged the cap-crossing
streak from the opposite side of the planet! It appears that the streak does
have a favored orientation across the cap.
-- Roger
Roger VENABLE (
¤····Subject: Re:
Mars
Received:
At Ls 95 of this date,
Mars may show linear dust streaks across the NPC. These were particularly
prominent and well imaged in 2010, when Mars was near opposition at a similar
Ls. So, I suspect that you've picked up a dust streak. Good job!
It is now thought
that the Rima Tenuis seen in some apparitions was due to dust streaks in the
NPC at about this Ls. This feature has not been detected in many apparitions,
so it seems likely that it doesn't occur at all in most apparitions. However,
we observe Mars to figure out things like this.
-- Roger
Roger VENABLE (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
An IR capture from
this morning taken through incoming cloud, and in poor seeing, which cut the session
short.
Elysium is central,
surrounded by a number of dark markings including Propontis I, Trivium
Charontis and Cerberus.
I am not 100% sure,
but the bright spot appears to be closer to Albor Tholus than Elysium Mons.
M Cimmerium towards
the top and there also appears to be some structure to the NPC.
The NPC outlier would
be expected to show a horizontal gap, rather than the vertical gap observed.
Any comments welcome
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171201/CFs01Dec17.png
¤····Subject: richard
baum obituary--final
Received:
Hi all,
Richard’s
funeral is tomorrow; I thought that I would send the final version of the
obit/memoir I wrote for this dear friend to so many of us in the amateur
astronomy world. He will be greatly missed.
Best,
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤····Subject: Mars
29 November 2017 0302UT RGB and IR
Received:
Hi all,
RGB and IR of Mars
from this morning.
Elysium again
prominent.
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171129/CFs29Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
2017/11/27-Kumamori
Received:
Mars images on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171127/Km27Nov17.png
Teruaki KUMAMORI (
¤····Subject: memoir
richard baum
Received:
Dear friends and colleagues,
As many
of you know, Richard Baum, a noted amateur astronomer and historian, passed
away on Sunday November 12. The funeral is Thursday in
I had a few
days off this past week and wrote the memoir attached. Eventually it is
going to appear, though in shortened form, in the SHA Bulletin and JALPO;
however, the entire piece—illustrated—will be attached as a pdf in the event
anyone wants to read it.
If you
have any corrections or additions, please let me know and I can make them prior
to its going into publication.
Best,
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤····Subject: Mars
27 November 2017 0252UT RGB and IR
Received:
Hi all,
RGB and IR of Mars
from this morning.
Elysium again
prominent.
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171127/CFs27Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
Nov 26
Received:
Greetings,
I am sending in my first Mars images of the current season.
Sorry but I am using
my smaller telescope (203mm).
Seeing was average
this morning. I did not notice anything unusual on the disk.
Thank You
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171126/TWl26Nov17.png
Tim WILSON (
¤····Subject: Mars
26 November 2017 0244UT RGB and IR
Received:
Hi all,
We have been having
turbulent weather, so I wasn’t too hopeful this morning when I got a clear gap,
but did think that I detected some detail on screen, so decided to try my first
RGB imaging of the apparition. 2 sets of RGB’s and I selected the best for
combining. It is my intent to run “true” RGB’s throughout the apparition.
It was nice to see a
rather colourful Mars start appearing as I worked through the processing. A
nice surprise at this size(4.2”)
A rather brilliant
white
There is a hint of
the Hesperia gap between M Tyrrhenum and M Cimmerium.
This first RGB set
has certainly got my excitement going with what is to come…..
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171126/CFs26Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Cassini's
Farewell to Saturn
Received:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
For 37 years, Voyager
1's last view of Saturn
(http://bit.ly/2iCfn1M<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2iCfn1M&h=ATP5g8PCLBxhQMyVtpTq29EIVrE3Q2Gi7xDiDxF4PCo5ZFvR0XhhVCDa8u-eGcyjNdjuG1Ksv5-x4gM8TgbyEsfB5ZwoK3HVkxYxA1sYEpaxrQN52F8UE8OyzMgpov0dDVBLOIR5cViu0MaY6DyCpm7wG_8xdrTdyankWcd65AX0qSBhphMSJb3jjexJgwJDv0W2pU7s6cysDEtekomuUq7u1Je6u2gHMIgV2bseRbUM2z2FgdkxpHKDyqdVIzd5ez1QoBTs8NuNiI2YVTQCIEXKJUEKi30iANw0dg-r>)
has
been, for me, one of the most evocative images ever taken in the exploration of
our solar system. I recall sitting alone in a room at JPL in November 1980,
after the first Voyager Saturn flyby was over and everyone else had gone home,
and gazing at the monitor in the upper corner of the room. There on the screen
was the view of Saturn seen from Voyager as it receded from the planet, on its
way out of the solar system and eventually into interstellar space.
And as I sat there,
almost in a trance, I reflected on the significance of our encounter with this
world and what had just happened ... to our species and to me personally. I had
just been swept up in the greatest and most meaningful adventure humankind had
ever undertaken, and I knew I wanted to join those bold and daring individuals
who were making it happen.
It was with that
enchanting memory in mind that I, along with the members of the Cassini imaging
team, have spent the last few years planning the Cassini equivalent of that
special Voyager image ... a last, lingering look at Saturn and its rings during
the final leg of Cassini's journey.
Today, we are
releasing to the world Cassini's Farewell to Saturn.
http://ciclops.org/view_event/276/A-Farewell-to-Saturn
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fciclops.org%2Fview_event%2F276%2FA-Farewell-to-Saturn&h=ATP2FI_Tq0C057hJvGewsbUg94WvQonuVDanAapyPNvv5cUCW95O53aRyR7ZU7M80J1icjZjIH2_7GY1obOkyVUuwpZ8pmSLS-aOXkP6nyb5gBS27QKcP2SMMxIgAa4i7d2j5J-7N5u7-5Ub6XfBjmNjmzSowcKXFPs6pIibU5csdU74R9YPBIuP3mKGLvBKg6jdK6pUWVrpmOlwP7R2DFEtykSx3ohUa0OfcxUQyufu0FF_ayVTcAoIDESs0mdM5OFIGCvFic1k3JoKNdcyF8dROJK1YrfejkFZ5XRn>
I hope this view will
forevermore remind you of that wondrous time humankind spent in intimate study
of our Sun's most iconic planetary system.
Enjoy,
Carolyn PORCO (
Cassini Imaging Team
leader
Director, CICLOPS, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO
Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley, CA
Fellow, California Academy of Sciences
http://twitter.com/carolynporco
http://www.facebook.com/carolynporco
http://carolynporco.com
¤····Subject: Mars
2017/11/20-Kumamori
Received:
Mars images on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171120/Km20Nov17.png
Teruaki KUMAMORI (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
Mars IR from this
morning.
Syrtis Major and
Sinus Sabeaus are fairly obvious, with a hint of
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171121/CFs21Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
AK16Nov2017
Received:
Mars image on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171116/Ak16Nov17.png
Tomio AKUTSU (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
Mars IR this morning.
Seeing conditions remain poor/challenging.
M Acidalium at lower
right. Sinus Sabeaus and Sinus Meridiani towards the top, with Syrtis Major starting
to come into view.
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171119/CFs19Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
2017/11/16-Kumamori
Received:
Mars images on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171116/Km16Nov17.png
Teruaki KUMAMORI (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
We have been subjected to a cut-off low pressure system over the
country for most of the last week with a cold front just having moved through,
and a Jetstream approaching 50m/s, so it doesn’t get much worse than that…..!
Attached is the best I could get this morning
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171117/CFs17Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Uranus
images
Received:
Hi all,
Here are some new Uranus images. I have still not been able to watch
As always, IR685
filter is giving more contrast, but less resolution, than RG610.
Best wishes,
Christophe PELLIER (
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
Sad news that brought back a flood of memories, not all of them
astronomical. As you know, Richard was a lad of 10 in the summer of 1940, when
the threat of a German invasion of
In the wee hours of the morning during the late summer of 1940
Richard's father came home, woke the household, and announced that there was an
invasion alert and reports [spurious] that German paratroops were landing. He
asked Richard's mother to take the family to the greater safety of her sister's
home in the country. Richard noticed that a holster containing a Webley
revolver adorned his father's hip rather than the customary nightstick. He
pointed to it with curiosity and his father removed it from the holster and
handed it to Richard, eliciting a scream form Richard's mother. Richard's
father then uttered: "Not to worry. They haven't issued us any bullets."
Tom DOBBINS (
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
Dear Bill
very sad news. Such a loss for the community, such an impressive heritage
left...
Paolo Tanga (Observatoire
de la Côte d'Azur,
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
Thanks Bill,
So sad to learn of the loss of Richard, I too hoped to have had
the opportunity to meet him but it
was not to be. I had been buying some of his research library and
expected that one day our paths would cross as a result.
The two books I own that he wrote will now have a special place in
my library. (The planets and also The haunted Observatory)
Brian SHEEN
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
Thanks Bill for
sharing the sad news,
I too greatly admired
Richard. His passing is a great loss., and his kindness and enthusiasm will be
missed.
Stephen O'MEARA
https://stephenjamesomeara.weebly.com
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
Thanks Bill for
posting this...
Richard Baum
was our ALPO Mercury coordinator in the 1980s and 1990s. I started to
correspond with him with my Mercury observations and shortly thereafter, I took
over the section after another coordinator after Richard. He was very
helpful to me and Richard looked over my Mercury papers many
times before I sent them to the ALPO editors. Also, he admired
my Venus work over the years especially the night side imaging. I have one
of his book, 'The Haunted Observatory'.
Richard
Baum was the one person I really wanted to meet but
unfortunately that never came true. He will be missed.
Best,
Frank J MELILLO (
ALPO Mercury Coordiantor
¤····Subject: Re:
Richard Baum
Received:
I am very sorry to
hear that Bill. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him personally, we
became rather good long distance friends thanks to email and other
correspondence. He was a true scholar and gentleman of rare quality.
Klaus BRASCH
¤····Subject: Richard
Baum
Received:
Just a brief note to
say that our great friend and mentor Richard Baum passed away this
morning.
Sent from my iPhone
Bill SHEEHAN (
¤····Subject: Mars
2017/11/12-Kumamori
Received:
Mars image on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171112/Km12Nov17.png
Teruaki KUMAMORI (
¤····Subject: Thank
you note
Received:
I got the CMO issue
and enjoyed it.
My computer and I
myself are in a better condition.
Thanks a lot.
My best wishes.
Takashi NAKAJIMA (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
Mars this morning.
Windy conditions with the planet jumping around, and seeing was poor, but 4x60s
derotation managed to pull a little bit of detail out. Some new settings that I
tried in AS3! definitely seemed to help(thanks to Emil and Martin), but it will
be nice to test further under better conditions.
M Acidalium and
Niliacus L. coming into view with Nilokeras and Lunae Lacus central.
Towards the south,
Aurorae Sinus and the Valles Marineris complex can be detected.
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171110/CFs10Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
2017/11/09-Kumamori
Received:
Mars image on
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171109/Km09Nov17.png
Teruaki KUMAMORI (
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
Mars IR this morning.
Single 45s capture. Rather turbulent seeing.
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171108/CFs08Nov17.png
¤····Subject: Mars
Received:
Hi all,
Mars has attained 4”
this morning.
Another view of the Tharsis
plateau, although the large volcanos are not evident yet.
Nerigos directly
above the NPC.
Tanais extends off
the Mare Acidalium, as does Nilokeras, extending towards Lunae Lacus.
Valles Marineris and
Solus Lacus towards the top of the image.
I see that my old
enemy, the edge artefact, is evident again, so I have some work ahead of me….
Best regards,
http://www.kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~cmo/cmons/2018/171107/CFs07Nov17.png