| On Saturday, August 30th, the Auburn Astronomical Society, and
the W.A. Gayle Planetarium on
Montgomery, co hosted "MARS GAZE 2003".
By 6:00PM, when we arrived to set up the telescopes, the queue for the 7:00PM showing of the movie "War of the Worlds" in the planetarium, filled the lobby and extended out the sidewalk. The turn-out was such that planetarium director, Rick Evans, determined that two showings of the movie would be required to accommodate everyone. The planetarium seats 235. Ten extra chairs were brought in for the second showing (which was also SRO). Rick estimated the at least another 100 came only to have a look through the telescopes, or could not get in to see the movie, giving us at total attendance of close to six hundred! Prior to each showing of the movie, Rick, in a tribute to the |
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Auburn Astronomical Society, gave a Power Point presentation to the
visitors. Rick had artfully choreographed the strains of Alabama's
"On This Side of the Moon" with composite images of members of the society
set in astronomy related scenes. We've asked Rick to send us a copy
to show at a future AAS meeting. Outstanding piece of work, Rick.
Thanks!
Other groups hosting similar events during the week of Mars’ closest
approach had reported being overwhelmed by larger than expected crowds.
Rick did his usual great job of getting the word out about this to the
local media.
Channel 12 (WSFA) (Rich Thomas) did a live remote broadcast at the planetarium on the Tuesday night before our event, on both the 5:00 and 6:00 news. Rick reported that the planetarium was inundated with phone calls from the time the broadcasts were |
| aired up until the show began Saturday. Promotions were also
run on WVAS radio and on WAKA, Channel 8.
"Based on the calls, I would anticipate one of the largest groups we have ever had out here." Rick predicted. Quite prophetic! Because of Mars' low altitude at the beginning of the evening, we had
to set up the telescopes farther back toward the park perimeter road than
we have for our Astronomy Day events -- around the area where "Neptune"
and "Pluto" are on the model solar system sidewalk.
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We would be looking over Jackson Hospital at Mars rise. The weather forecast called for a 50% chance of afternoon thunder showers. As threatening clouds came and went, Rick was bringing us the latest radar images of storms in the area. Those attending the first showing of the movie poured out of the planetarium a few minutes before 9:00PM. As they lined up 10 to 15 deep at each of the telescopes we had them look at some of the brighter objects in the area of sky that we could see such as Albireo -- the beautiful gold and blue double star, as all waited patiently for Mars to "get out of the hospital". |
| As skies darkened, the air cooled, dissipating what remained of the
clouds. Brilliant Mars made its grand entrance right on cue.
Once it had cleared the lower layers of our atmosphere, the image was steady
and sharp at 350 power. Many of the visitors were able to make out the
subtle surface features in the Sinus Sabaeus, and Sinus Meridiani regions.
The south polar cap was easy for everyone. Most visitors took turns
at each of the telescopes.
The dreaded Earth clouds nor the global Martian dust storms ever materialized. We had a wonderful evening that ranks up there with our 1984 annular solar eclipse, the Halley Watch in 1986, comet Hale-Bopp, and the 2001 Leonid storm. As the crowd diminished we started to pack up our scopes. We finally left at midnight with the satisfaction of knowing we had given many visitors a memory that will last a lifetime. |
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Interested visitors watch John Clifton as he readies his scope. |
Eddie Kirkland puts the finishing touches on his 16". |
| Special thanks to the following, some who made special trips here for
this event from many miles, who gave of their time and telescopes
for the event:
Alan and Susie Cook, 10-inch SCT
And, to Ed Beckstrom, John Zachry, and old friend, Mike Fulmer for giving general assistance and moral support. And finally to Rick Evans, without whom this would not have happened, our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for this wonderful partnership that we have with forged between the W.A. Gayle Planetarium and the Auburn Astronomical Society. |
John Tatarchuk answers questions from a young visitor. |
 Russell and wife Cathy waiting for dark. |
Mars Data:
Apparent magnitude: -2.87
The prominent features seen were South Polar Cap, Syrtis Major, Sinus
Sabaeus, and Sinus Meridiani.
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