From Alan HEATH
@. . . . . . . At last I have managed to see Mars
but with great difficulty.
The planet is very low and I have to observe it
between houses. I cannot get the planet from the observatory so have to use the
Celestar-8 which is portable. Looking at the planet between houses and with
nearby sodium street lights does not make for good observing.
For what they are worth, I enclose three drawings with notes and I do not
expect do much better than this at this apparition. However I will try for
as long as I can in the hopes that
perhaps I may be favoured with one reasonable
view. I can but hope!
Thank you for continuing to send me the Mars
Bulletin which is always a joy to read.
Very Best wishes to you all
（23
June 2001）
@. . . .
. . Just a few more observations though of little real use I am afraid.
Tom DOBBINS (USA) phoned to tell me
there is a major dust storm in operation.
Very best wishes to you all
(
@ . . . .
. . . For what they are worth I enclose my final observations of Mars for this
apparition. Very disappointing really and, despite 18 observations, there is
little of any use from me.
Hoping all is with you and I enjoy reading
about the observations of Mars which others have had with more favourable skies
and seeing conditions,
With Very
Best Wishes
(
(Note) According to HEATH's Summary and Observing
Notes, the planet was very low in the sky, barely 10ﾟabove the horizon. So it was
necessary to use the portable SCT-8 throughout as the planet was not visible
from his Observatory (see CMO #211 p2387). Even so observation was between
houses and trees, views often being limited to a few minutes at a time. The
portable C-8 was taken on to a nearby flood bank to gain a slight improvement
but this was kept to a minimum since competition with street lights reduced the
value of observations to almost nil. A total of 18 observations were made
between
Dust storm
activity had been reported to him by Tom DOBBINS of
Alan HEATH (