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CNN Live At Daybreak

Discussing Mars

Aired August 26, 2003 - 05:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's talk about mars.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what this is?

COSTELLO: An apple?

MYERS: That's the sun.

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: You know what that is?

COSTELLO: A pen with feathers on top?

MYERS: That's the Earth. You know what that is?

COSTELLO: A sombrero.

MYERS: That's Mars. So, we'll figure out how all this works.

COSTELLO: Why, the reason he's doing all of this, because if you look up in the sky, you will see a big red ball, and that would be Mars. And it's closer than it has been in the past 60,000 years. The proximity could be a bonus for scientists, though, who are looking for the possibility of life on the red planet.

Joining us on the phone to talk about the event is Jonathan Lunine, professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona.

And as you can see, Professor, Chad has stuff.

Can you see us on your monitor?

JONATHAN LUNINE, PROFESSOR OF PLANETARY SCIENCES & PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: Well, good morning, Carol.

I can't see you, but I can imagine what he has.

MYERS: Well, you know what? It's a 3D world and people have such a hard time envisioning a 3D world. They just think we're the center of the universe, because we thought that for millions of years. But the sun being the middle and the Earth being over here and Mars being over here, a lot of times they rotate around like this. But this year, we're getting in orbit with this guy. And so we're going to be very, very close, the closest we've been in so very long, that you can actually see Mars.

The only thing you can see from the deck at CNN right now is Mars.

COSTELLO: Really?

MYERS: Because it's the brightest thing in the sky and there's so much haze out there, it's the only obstacle, the only thing, the only object up there in the sky.

COSTELLO: Well, Professor Lunine, what is the significance of this for scientists?

LUNINE: Well, of course, we get these very close approaches once every 17 years. But they vary a little bit each time. And this one is, as you mentioned, very, very close. One advantage in the space age is that it's possible to send heavier vehicles to Mars on a given rocket because the trajectory is more favorable. And so the two Mars Exploration rovers that were launched this summer took advantage of that. And then telescopic views from the ground are a little bit better, a little bit larger, a little bit brighter.

COSTELLO: So if you have a telescope, what will you be able to see if you go out there in your backyard and look at Mars?

LUNINE: Well, it depends on what you have. With the naked eye, it is a very spectacular object, even without a telescope. If you have a small amateur telescope, one that might be, have a two or three inch aperture, which is very typical, you can clearly see the disk of Mars and you can make out, if it's not too windy, you can make out some of the darker markings. I can do that with my small telescope.

COSTELLO: So what will those darker markings be?

LUNINE: They're different places on Mars that have a somewhat darker surface to them. Other areas are a little bit brighter. If you have a 20 inch telescope, which is typical for a planetarium, let's say, that might have an observatory, you can also see the South Pole very clearly.

MYERS: Now, tomorrow is a new moon here for us. Is that going to make Mars on any phase? Is Mars going to be in a phase at all or is it going to be a completely round disk, circle?

LUNINE: Oh, well you're asking me a trick question, I can see that. It's going to be essentially a round circle. Mars is in an orbit that's beyond the Earth, as seen from the sun, and so it essentially just always shows a full face to us.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: That's just amazing. Mars is still going to be like 34.6 million miles away, though. So it's not exactly close. Well, you -- you know, you were talking about what you could see through the telescope. Are the markings the little canals where they believe that water once was?

LUNINE: Well, those are the valley networks. You can't see those through ground-based telescopes. You really have to do that with spacecraft that orbit Mars or also with Hubble.

The sorts of things that Percival Lowell saw that he thought were built by Martians turn out to be optical illusions.

MYERS: So we're not going to see the face either, then, from a ground-based telescope?

LUNINE: You won't see the infamous face on Mars, that's true.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Oh, darn.

One last question. Why the fascination with this particular planet?

LUNINE: Well, Mars is, it's red and it's bright in the sky most of the time, so humans have always wondered about it. But the more we learn, the more we discover that Mars had an interesting history, where there may have been water early on, possibly life. And so of the rocky planets in our solar system, Mars, although it's very dry now, may be the one that was the most Earth-like early in its history and may harbor signs of life. We don't know that yet.

COSTELLO: Fascinating.

MYERS: That is.

COSTELLO: All right, well, thank you very much for getting up early, because I know you're out in Arizona, Professor Lunine.

MYERS: He's in Tucson.

COSTELLO: I know.

LUNINE: I wish I could tell you I could see Mars, but it's very cloudy here, too, so.

MYERS: Oh, well, go back to bed.

COSTELLO: Yes, go back to bed.

LUNINE: OK.

COSTELLO: When you get up, maybe tomorrow.

LUNINE: Yes, I'll do that.

MYERS: Maybe it'll be light when you wake up.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much for joining us.

LUNINE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 26, 2003 - 05:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's talk about mars.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what this is?

COSTELLO: An apple?

MYERS: That's the sun.

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: You know what that is?

COSTELLO: A pen with feathers on top?

MYERS: That's the Earth. You know what that is?

COSTELLO: A sombrero.

MYERS: That's Mars. So, we'll figure out how all this works.

COSTELLO: Why, the reason he's doing all of this, because if you look up in the sky, you will see a big red ball, and that would be Mars. And it's closer than it has been in the past 60,000 years. The proximity could be a bonus for scientists, though, who are looking for the possibility of life on the red planet.

Joining us on the phone to talk about the event is Jonathan Lunine, professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona.

And as you can see, Professor, Chad has stuff.

Can you see us on your monitor?

JONATHAN LUNINE, PROFESSOR OF PLANETARY SCIENCES & PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: Well, good morning, Carol.

I can't see you, but I can imagine what he has.

MYERS: Well, you know what? It's a 3D world and people have such a hard time envisioning a 3D world. They just think we're the center of the universe, because we thought that for millions of years. But the sun being the middle and the Earth being over here and Mars being over here, a lot of times they rotate around like this. But this year, we're getting in orbit with this guy. And so we're going to be very, very close, the closest we've been in so very long, that you can actually see Mars.

The only thing you can see from the deck at CNN right now is Mars.

COSTELLO: Really?

MYERS: Because it's the brightest thing in the sky and there's so much haze out there, it's the only obstacle, the only thing, the only object up there in the sky.

COSTELLO: Well, Professor Lunine, what is the significance of this for scientists?

LUNINE: Well, of course, we get these very close approaches once every 17 years. But they vary a little bit each time. And this one is, as you mentioned, very, very close. One advantage in the space age is that it's possible to send heavier vehicles to Mars on a given rocket because the trajectory is more favorable. And so the two Mars Exploration rovers that were launched this summer took advantage of that. And then telescopic views from the ground are a little bit better, a little bit larger, a little bit brighter.

COSTELLO: So if you have a telescope, what will you be able to see if you go out there in your backyard and look at Mars?

LUNINE: Well, it depends on what you have. With the naked eye, it is a very spectacular object, even without a telescope. If you have a small amateur telescope, one that might be, have a two or three inch aperture, which is very typical, you can clearly see the disk of Mars and you can make out, if it's not too windy, you can make out some of the darker markings. I can do that with my small telescope.

COSTELLO: So what will those darker markings be?

LUNINE: They're different places on Mars that have a somewhat darker surface to them. Other areas are a little bit brighter. If you have a 20 inch telescope, which is typical for a planetarium, let's say, that might have an observatory, you can also see the South Pole very clearly.

MYERS: Now, tomorrow is a new moon here for us. Is that going to make Mars on any phase? Is Mars going to be in a phase at all or is it going to be a completely round disk, circle?

LUNINE: Oh, well you're asking me a trick question, I can see that. It's going to be essentially a round circle. Mars is in an orbit that's beyond the Earth, as seen from the sun, and so it essentially just always shows a full face to us.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: That's just amazing. Mars is still going to be like 34.6 million miles away, though. So it's not exactly close. Well, you -- you know, you were talking about what you could see through the telescope. Are the markings the little canals where they believe that water once was?

LUNINE: Well, those are the valley networks. You can't see those through ground-based telescopes. You really have to do that with spacecraft that orbit Mars or also with Hubble.

The sorts of things that Percival Lowell saw that he thought were built by Martians turn out to be optical illusions.

MYERS: So we're not going to see the face either, then, from a ground-based telescope?

LUNINE: You won't see the infamous face on Mars, that's true.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Oh, darn.

One last question. Why the fascination with this particular planet?

LUNINE: Well, Mars is, it's red and it's bright in the sky most of the time, so humans have always wondered about it. But the more we learn, the more we discover that Mars had an interesting history, where there may have been water early on, possibly life. And so of the rocky planets in our solar system, Mars, although it's very dry now, may be the one that was the most Earth-like early in its history and may harbor signs of life. We don't know that yet.

COSTELLO: Fascinating.

MYERS: That is.

COSTELLO: All right, well, thank you very much for getting up early, because I know you're out in Arizona, Professor Lunine.

MYERS: He's in Tucson.

COSTELLO: I know.

LUNINE: I wish I could tell you I could see Mars, but it's very cloudy here, too, so.

MYERS: Oh, well, go back to bed.

COSTELLO: Yes, go back to bed.

LUNINE: OK.

COSTELLO: When you get up, maybe tomorrow.

LUNINE: Yes, I'll do that.

MYERS: Maybe it'll be light when you wake up.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much for joining us.

LUNINE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com