35 replies to this topic

[JOEinCO]

Thanks. But why is [the North Pole} displayed South in your link? it's displayed bottom while with all my scopes I find it top on Mars? The scope swaps W and E but not N with S.

 

An easy way to determine North and South in the eyepiece is to simply nudge your scope toward or away from Polaris. Even works with a driven scope that is tracking. If you nudge toward Polaris, the side of your field that gains more sky is the North. If you nudge away from Polaris, the side of your field that gains more sky is the South.

 

Handy with everything from Martian polar caps to Jupiter's equatorial belts to Saturn's tilt orientation and more.

[quilty]

Cool trick.

Am I right then that the northern Icecap is starting to melt? Last night's good seeing gave me the impression it's a bit smaller than last time.
Climate change disease takes over to Mars (we finally got it from Venus :-)

Edited by quilty, 02 March 2025 - 06:01 AM.

[RTLR 12]

I am mainly a planetary guy and because I am easily confused and because I do a lot of public outreach (and no one is more confused than the public, especially when doing Lunar viewing) I use a one of these...

 

Stan

 

https://agenaastro.c...al-2456120.html

[azure1961p]

Why isn't mars surface cratered like the moon?

It's similar in terms if impacts, but the high winds on Mars, dustorms,  etc. have eroded a lot of them down, many filled completely.

 

Pete

[quilty]

Along my observations the icecap shrinked significantly between October and January or so but now seems to be stable for some weeks already.

I just find that's not consistent to my No 8. Maybe like this: Until end of January it was the largest icecap I've ever seen. Since then it shrank for some weeks to about half the size. But now for some weeks I didn't notice a further decay. Must have lost the time track, sort of.

"Why isn't mars surface cratered like the moon?"

See No. 8.

Edited by quilty, 13 April 2025 - 09:48 AM.

[azure1961p]

I can say the cap this swing around is bolder, larger than it's been some other times .  Acidalium mare even seems to support a melt band around it.  When it was that hemisphere I was viewing.  Other apparition the polar cap can be incredibly small.  Not this time.

 

Pete

[Blast_off]

I'm curious about the depth of the craters, seems the size of the object only goes down so far no matter the size, why is that?

[Blast_off]

Are the rings around saturn created by a massive impact long ago? Is the astroid belt a destroyed planet?

[Grounddweller]

Those are questions I do not have answers to, although Saturn’s rings are not exclusive. At least 4 planets of the solar system have ring systems, and the system itself has a “ring” of asteroids within its inner structure . All of these are gravitationally bound presently, though influences can change that hypothetically speaking. There have been several theories presented to explain these rings, with the latest being a possible collision of 2 moons in Saturn’s orbit.

[Grounddweller]

Those are questions I do not have answers to, although Saturn’s rings are not exclusive. At least 4 planets of the solar system have ring systems, and the system itself has a “ring” of asteroids within its inner structure . All of these are gravitationally bound presently, though influences can change that hypothetically speaking. There have been several theories presented to explain these rings, with the latest being a possible collision of 2 moons in Saturn’s orbit.

[azure1961p]

Such cool questions in this thread!!!

 

Imagine you could cobble all the asteroid bits and chunks back into one big planet!! Moreover, imagine you find the fitting pieces along the way!!!  A planet Pangea of sorts?  

 

Saturn, as fast as I kno , it is theorized by others, drew in a moon perhaps and tidally decimated it into pieces.  But, rind are elsewhere too, I think it's Neptunes rings made of carbon (!!!!). 

 

Pete