M A R S orbit - suggestion for JUNE challenge of the month

Question

drawing MARS orbit,

I searched this forum and no one have thought to

What seems simple as challenge, draw the orbit of Mars with Small Basic.

In our course of physics, we had draw the orbit of Mars on graph paper, using Kepler's Law.

NASA videos Galleries: Video: Orbits and Kepler's Laws

A General Equation for Orbital Speed

Motion in the Heavens, Project Physics Text and Handbook Volume 2

Answer 1

Good challenge! Tonight, we may see the Super Mars.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 2

@Nonki

yesterday, May 30th, at 21:00 hrs here in my country , with my 15x by 70mm binocular, i pointed to Mars, which is very close to Earth  since 11 years. It was spectacular, even with my binoculars, i could see a small disk of Mars and it's orange color, it was fantastic !!

Then yesterday night, Jupiter and Saturn were in the sky, it was a magical observation night for amateur astronomer like me.

Her is what looks like the sky yesterday night: ( with Stellarium program )

Answer 3

..we may see the Super Mars

Tried to catch a view last nite, but only catsNdogs out there. Weather report sent(s) heavy weather. :-()  Waiting for '18 to see some marsians.

Answer 4

I saw the Super Mars (also the Saturn and the Antares) yesterday.  The days before yesterday were cloudy.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 5

This is my first step for this challenge: CLJ212.

The scale of the Sun is 15 times of orbits.  The scale of planets are 500 times of orbits.  In this version, planets are on their longitude of perihelion in ecliptic plane.  

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 6

so far it look's very very fantastic !!

I'm looking forward to the final version :)

Answer 7

Bug Report in CLJ212

I found following mistake. 

21.b = Math.SquareRoot(1 - e) * a            ' semiminor axis

b = √(1-e^2) a

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 8

I created another program to calculate 1/12 equal areas in orbit: CXZ359.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 9

I found how to calculate planet position in a document of NASA.

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?planet_pos

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 10

Fantastic link ! thanks for sharing :)

Answer 11

Wow !

Kepler would have liked to have our modern tools to calculate the position of Mars, in these time calculations were laborious and handmade.

Answer 12

a very helpful link:

how to draw on paper the orbit of Mars:

Astronomy 101 Lab The Orbit of Mars

Answer 13

In the World Wide Telescope freeware from Microsoft Research:

The WWT project is a collaborative effort between Microsoft Research and a variety of academic and governmental agencies

here is the Planets:  Mars -Earth - Venus - Mercury orbit position as of today June 5th 2016

screen capture of my WWT astronomy software as mention above.

Answer 14

Wonderful Educational Video about Kepler's law and planets Orbit., by Nasa

VIDEO to watch on line:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galleries/video/orbits-and-keplers-laws

Answer 15

This is the second step of the first program: CLJ212-0.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 16

Fantastic, great program, very scientific, 5 Stars !!!!

Answer 17

This is the third step for the orbit animation: CLJ212-1.

Included Saturn orbit.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 18

great wrk nonky, as usually))

some updates:  CLJ212-2

• changed clrs/size
• centred planets on orbs
• simplified date calc
• LD xtension required (as usually) 

Answer 19

Hi Nonki ! Incredible program !!!!! wow !!!  you should write a techwiki article for this one it's a Masterpiece !

here what i did:

Sub DrawPlanet
  Program.Delay(100)

if you put a little program.delay of 100 ms , the speed become this: Day's become seconds.

a program.delay of 10ms , the speed is faster, Month's become seconds.

Very helpful to see particularly time windows, like 1971 year., why 1971 ?

memorable day for me :)

in August 1971, i saw in my 4 inch telescope ( see photo below) at that time, Mars very close to the Earth, much closer than the super Mars of last May. In August 10th 1971 the distance between Mars and Earth was 56,248,799 km . So i stop your program in August 1971 to see how the Earth and Mars planet are align, and perfect !! the opposition his there, very ACCURATE program:  see my screen capture:

my 4 inch Newton Telescope:

Answer 20

Mars for Kids, everything about planet Mars and many mores.

Really a great educational Nasa website:

Mars for kids

Answer 21

This is the fourth revision: CLJ212-3.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 22

This is the fourth revision: CLJ212-3.

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Nonki Takahashi

May be this is the last one: CLJ212-4.

You can drag or use arrow keys to move slider.

[Left] [Right] [Home] [End] keys are available.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 23

Hi Nonki!

First, I'm still amazed by this program, one of your top 5 if not the best of all your programs. You should do a blog it will be a success. I like astronomy, I 'm still surprised by this planetarium, especially that it was written in language modern BASIC, this is in my opinion a huge step forward for the BASIC community. In version 4, I like the time bar that you have added in order to allow to stop time to see the alignment of the planets. Get ready for the month of July I will have an another super-challenge in astronomy to propose on this forum, again a wonderful program!

お祝いの言葉

Answer 24

With World Wide Telescope software, here is 2 images, of ( Mars - Earth) opposition, in last May, and how it will be 2 years from now, in July 2018.

The 2018  ( Mars - Earth) distance will be  the closest one since 2003, and the rare one below 0,40 AU.

So stay tune, for July 27th 2018, Mars will be bigger in our telescope !

Useful Mars-Earth table website that gives the opposition date

27 July 2018, Mars-Earth distance:  57,744,778

22 May 2016, Mars-Earth distance: 76,145,316 km

Answer 25

The best HUBBLE recent images of MARS APPROACH  for download:

Hubble Takes Mars Portrait Near Close Approach

see this picture , unbelievable !

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/15/image/a/format/web_print/

Answer 26

Hi Nonki!

First, I'm still amazed by this program, one of your top 5 if not the best of all your programs. You should do a blog it will be a success. I like astronomy, I 'm still surprised by this planetarium, especially that it was written in language modern BASIC, this is in my opinion a huge step forward for the BASIC community. In version 4, I like the time bar that you have added in order to allow to stop time to see the alignment of the planets. Get ready for the month of July I will have an another super-challenge in astronomy to propose on this forum, again a wonderful program!

お祝いの言葉

Thank you, YLed.  I wrote the blog.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 27

Minor change: CLJ212-5. Time-interval is changed according to the data.

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Nonki Takahashi

Answer 28

Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Okoruso' Drill Hole, Mars

This animated image blinks two versions of a May 11, 2016, selfie of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a drilled sample site called "Okoruso." In one version, cameras atop the rover's mast face the arm-mounted camera taking the portrait. In the other, they face away. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1912

Answer 29

Apparent size of popular sky objects in a 100x telescope.

source: All about Telescopes 1975 by Edmund Scientific co.

Answer 30

Depending of the relative position of the planets with the earth, it will appear bigger or smaller in the telescope

source: All about Telescopes 1975 by Edmund Scientific co.

Answer 31

In 1971 Mars opposition was so close to the Earth that it appear as 25'' diameter in seconds of arc in the telescope:

source: All about Telescopes 1975 by Edmund Scientific co.

Answer 32

Mars is approaching again.  Following screen shot is by Orbit 0.5.

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Nonki Takahashi