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Unfortunately for those with telescopes, there's been a planet-wide dust storm since middle of June that's made seeing any surface features difficult. It's rel
by sixbrx 8y ago
Unfortunately for those with telescopes, there's been a planet-wide dust storm since middle of June that's made seeing any surface features difficult. It's related to it being a particular good opposition, since it's closer to the sun (and Earth) this time, the extra solar energy is contributing to the storm and it may take months to dissipate.
Observations from amateurs around the time the dust storm was going global:
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/616612-2018-mars-opposition-thread-post-your-observations-sketches-images/page-5 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/616612-2018-mars-oppositi...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- craftyguy 8y agoYea, that is unfortunate. I had a chance to take my 16" scope to a really dark site the other day and just saw a rusty disk with very little features :(
- gmiller123456 8y ago>It's related to it being a particular good opposition. Actually, it's not. Mars reaches perihelion about every 2 Earth years without encountering a dust storm of this magnitude. It's also important to point out that the distance of a planet to the Sun usually does not have a great effect on the weather. Even though Mars has a more elliptical orbit than most, the difference in light received at its closest/furthest points to the Sun only accounts to about .7 times the light received from the Sun.
- colanderman 8y ago0.7 times sounds like a lot? If the Earth suddenly received 70% less light I think entire biomes would shift.