Randy TATUM #218
Letters to the Editor
From
Randy TATUM
in CMO #218
@ . . . . .Greetings to you and your colleagues. Thank you very much for all the CMOs! I do enjoy reading them and keeping up with fellow observers.
I have enclosed six drawings of Mars. Four were made from videotape or live video. I experienced some of the best seeing in recent memory on 5-13 and used 4xBarlow projection with the Richmond Astronomical Society refractor to produce a 50mm disk on the video monitor. I used an Astrovid 2000 camera and JUC SUHS VCR. Hope to get more involved in from grabbing soon.
Also enclosed are some visual drawings by local observer John Barnett. He has enjoyed observing Mars for many years.
I am following the slow increase in solar activity of cycle 23. Most likely this cycle will not match or exceed the previous two cycles. Usually the faster the rise the higher the peak of sunspots. Hope to have more observations for you soon.
(18 May 1999)
Randy TATUM ( VA, USA )