From Rick FIENBERG
@. . .
. . . Maurizio et
al.
--
I think
most people would be tickled pink to get a Mars image like this one! May we use
it in S&T and/or on our Web site?
Gary and I just got home. We had a
wonderful time with y'all!
Tim
Parker:
Please send me a sampling of your Coolpix shots ASAP; I would like to use one of
them in S&T to illustrate my editorial about my "three nights on
Mars.
Don
Parker:
Please send me a copy of the e-mail you sent out this (Thursday) morning
describing last (Wednesday) night's observations.
David
Moore:
Please send me some video frames when you get a chance. Ideally, I'd like to see a sequence
showing before, during, and after a flare in Edom.
Below you will find the text of the Astro Alert message Gary and I sent
out this morning. As soon as I get Don's reply, I'll post something to the IAU
CBAT for use in an IAU Circular -- anyone who's already done that should let me
know so I don't duplicate effort.
Again,
THANKS!
--
Rick
*******************************************************************
*Attention all
Mars observers: Flares have been sighted in Edom Promontorium! *
*******************************************************************
In the
May 2001 issue of SKY & TELESCOPE (pages 115 to 123), Thomas Dobbins
and William Sheehan discussed rare historical observations of bright, star-like
flares from certain regions on the planet Mars. They suggested that the flares
might be caused by specular reflections of sunlight off water-ice crystals in
surface frosts or atmospheric clouds, specifically at times when the sub-Sun and
sub-Earth points were nearly coincident and near the planet's central meridian
(the imaginary line running down the center of the visible disk from pole to
pole).
Based
on their analysis, Dobbins and Sheehan predicted that flares like those last
reported in 1958 might erupt this week in Edom Promontorium, near the Martian
equator at longitude 345 degrees. Dobbins organized an expedition to the Florida
Keys, where Mars would ride high in the south under exceptionally steady skies.
Expedition members observed the planet using a variety of telescopes nightly
beginning June 3rd. No flares were seen for several nights. But on June 7th,
beginning around 06:40 UT (2:40 Eastern daylight time), about 80 minutes before
Edom crossed the central meridian, the team observed a series of brightenings.
Each lasted perhaps 3 to 5 seconds; they occurred sporadically over the next 90
minutes or so, until clouds ended the observations. At times Edom appeared to
pulse with a period of 10 to 15 seconds for a minute or two. The flares were
seen visually at about 300 power through two homemade 6-inch (15-centimeter)
Newtonian reflectors (one f/6, the other f/8) by Dobbins, Donald
Parker, Gary Seronik, Rick Fienberg, and David Moore and were recorded on video
at 1,400 power through a Meade 12-inch (30-cm) Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope by
Parker and Tippy D'Auria. Visually, the flares seemed to cut the dark linear
feature Sinus Sabaeus nearly in two. Mars observers in North America, especially
the western half, are encouraged to observe the planet visually and to record it
on video over the next two or three nights, when conditions will continue to
favor flares in Edom. ……
Clear skies!
-- Rick
Fienberg and Gary Seronik,
SKY &
TELESCOPE (7 June 2001
email)
Rick FIENBERG (S&T,
USA)