As Betteridge’s Law of Headlines suggests, the answer is no. But this was excuse enough for me to lug my old telescope into the yard for a gander at the Moon and Mars.
The Moon appears nearly full — just one day past the Harvest Moon.
Mars is just a few days from its closest approach to Earth, and about a week and a half away from opposition (so Space.com tells me), so it’s looking pretty bright itself.
During my viewing, a few hours before optimum for the East Coast, Mars appeared to be about three lunar diameters from the Moon, which would be somewhere around a degree and a half. That’s wider than the field of my widest eyepiece, hence the hop from one to the other in the video.
The telescope is a Celestron 4.5″ Newtonian that I’ve had since I was a kid. It’s been gathering dust for a very long time, and is a tad out of collimation. Video was shot by hand-holding my Moto G to a 25mm 1.25″ plössl eyepiece.
And no, I didn’t expect much, other than to enjoy a cool evening and view two of my favorite objects. Yes, I went down to a 5mm eyepiece to check out the detail along the lunar limb.
Mars showed its distinct color, but I never got sharp enough focus to see any detail. The best view was with my naked eyeball, past the limbs of the apple tree in my front yard, watching the Moon and Mars rise together.
Someday I hope to visit them both.
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