SMITHFIELD -- For those who haven't yet checked out Mars in its current drive-by pass near Earth, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island has organized a "star party."
On Thursday, the Society will convoy Mars buffs to the private Skyscrapers Observatory in Scituate via car pooling. David A. Huestis, historian and ex-president of the amateur astronomy club, will preside.
"We want to take advantage of the high-powered optics there," said Jim Gass, refuge manager at Audubon headquarters on Sanderson Road.
Space is limited to 60 participants, Gass said. Those interested should reserve a place by calling Audubon headquarters at 949-5454. The cost is $7 for member adults, $4 for member children, $9 for nonmember adults and $6 for nonmember children.
The close approach of Mars to Earth last month got plenty of media attention, "close" being a relative term here -- the planets were 35 million miles apart.
The gravitational waltzes of the two planets as they orbit the sun had drawn them nearer than at any time in the past 59,616 years, according to Roger Sinnot, senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.
When the great moment arrived last month (the vaunted close encounter took place at 5:51 a.m. on Aug. 27), a conspiracy on the part of the atmosphere robbed Rhode Island skywatchers. As they say in the Ocean State, clouds cut Mars off.
All is not lost, however.
According to Sky & Telescope, Mars will look much the same for the first half of this month as it did on the night of the close encounter. It then will linger as a bright object, fading slowly into late fall.
In fact, the magazine said, although Mars is now moving away from Earth, the planet will actually be more convenient to observe because it will rise earlier each evening as the days pass. Mars can now be seen easily in the southeast about an hour after sunset, shining at a magnitude of minus 2.9, the brightest current object in the sky after the sun and moon.
The yellowish-orange glow of Mars easily bores through a light overcast. It can be spotted without effort even amid the glare of nighttime city lights.
Those anxious to study the planet through a telescope however must contend with dust storms on the surface and with a flutter often induced by Earth's own atmosphere. Despite the sharp views transmitted by satellites in orbit around Mars, the planet customarily shows up in a telescope eyepiece as a fuzzy, reddish ball with occasional dark markings around its equator and sometimes with whitish areas at its polar caps. Only the frozen gases at the Martian south pole are currently visible.
For those who missed the Aug. 27 pass, there is still hope, provided they live long enough and remember to mark their calendars. Sky & Telescope reported that the always-shifting elliptical orbits of Earth and Mars will haul them even closer on Aug. 28, 2287. That's a Sunday.
