[extropy-chat] [ASTRO/BS] Mars as big as the moon?

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:

> Damien Broderick wrote:
> 
> > At 04:08 PM 6/8/2005 -0700, AG wrote:
> >
> >> The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars
> >> comes to within
> >> 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the
> >> moon) the brightest
> >> object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of
> >> -2.9 and will appear
> >> 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power
> >> magnification
> >>
> >> By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon
> >> to the naked eye.
> >
> >
> > Let's think about this for a fraction of a second. At perigee and 
> > opposition, Mars is said above to be 25.11 arc seconds wide. The 
> > Moon's apparent width averages 1800 arc seconds in diameter.
> >
> I saw this about a week ago and understood it to mean that *with a 
> modest 75-power magnification*, Mars would look as large as the full 
> moon to the naked eye.
> 
> Makes sense?

Yeah, that sounds logical. Time to get out your specs to go looking for canals...

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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