planet viewing

[billybob884]

this doesnt really have to do with celestia, but with a consideration of size and distance, which would be easyier to see through a telescope, mars or jupiter?

[praesepe]

Well, i've got a little Newton telescope (114 mm diameter, 900 mm focal distance) and i see Jupiter without any problems and i can distinguish some stripes and many of the Galilean moons (Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto). But i find it hard to track Mars, it's more like a red dot with some dark areas, i cannot see any detail from its surface

[selden]

Mike,

Although it's closer, Mars is a lot smaller than Jupiter. Even at its closest, its angular diameter is less. It's even less than Saturn's. As a result, the times when Mars is closest to Earth (in opposition) are very important for people who study it.

Two exemples of this rather surprising difference in size are shown in the "Mars transiting ..." pictures I did a while ago. See http://www.lns.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/gallery-001.html.

[Kendrix]

On the 29 August, Mars will have an apparant diameter of 25.1" of arc.
Bigger than saturn ! (still smaller than Jupiter). But you will be able to see clouds, polar ice and some other things...