Thursday · August 28 2003
I kept my expectations low. If I saw a reddish glow, no matter how fuzzy, I would be satisfied. Stace was calibrating the telescope while Tori, Kristin, and I waited our turn. I was worried. The Chicago haze had stripped Mars of the colored tint we saw over the weekend. It looked like just another bright white star to the naked eye. Stacy had the planet in sight now. I bent over, squinted, and focused my left eye.
"I see a dust speck. Where's the planet, hon? Isn't Mars supposed to look like this?"
"No, we don't own a Hubble telescope, sweetie. A fuzzy globe is as good as we're going to do."
It wasn't red, nor particularly large, and it was most definitely fuzzy. I'm tempted to say what's all the fuss about. But the fuss was about getting together and looking at the sky.
well said. and to say adieu to kristin was nice, too.
i still contest, though, that stacy and i saw the polar ice caps. (we have karl sagan's instinct because we took astronomy in high school. i still have the sky wheel that we made out of a photocopied star chart, construction paper and a brass brad.)