Carter Emmart's On2Mars Art Car in front of the Lowell tomb at Lowell Observatory on 21 Aug 2003 for our Mars Opposition Observing gathering. Around the car, from left to right: Rachel Ybarra (Ariel's friend, very faint), Deidre Hunter (Lowell astronomer and wife of...), Philip Massey (Lowell astronomer), Penelope Boston, Steve Welch.
Rear view, American Flag flying over Mars, with extreme perspective (Carter calls this "redneck insurance" ;-). Chile pepper lights in the car illuminate the toy collection / diorama: Space toys, Barbies, and toys that Carter likes or created, including several illegal Barbies, like Dominatrix Barbie, and Topless Dancer Barbie. Truly an Art Car!
Steve Welch at the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark Refractor on 21 August 2003, about a week before the closest approach of Mars to Earth in the last 60,000 or so years. We were told that the chair I am sitting in here and this somewhat rickety observing platform that we observed Mars from were Percival Lowell's original ones!
Penelope Boston at the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark Refractor, 21 August 2003.
Ariel Boston at the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark Refractor.
Carter shows his artist friend who works at Lowell (don't remember his name) some of his drawings of Mars or (more likely) visa versa.
Mike Spilde gets blinded while I'm taking a flash picture of Carter and friend. (Sorry, Mike, I didn't see you in the dark!)
Mike Spilde looking at Mars through a finder scope at the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark Refractor. Main eyepiece is in front of Mike's knee in this picture.
Starley Thompson takes a picture with his digital camera through the eyepiece of the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark Refractor. Worked! (see below)
Mars opposition observing montage, featuring a dashing Carter Emmart at the Lowell Observatory's Alvin Clark 24" refractor on 21 August 2003, the custom license plate for his Mars Art car, and a pretty impressive picture of Mars taken about 9:30 UT by Starley Thompson or myself by holding a 2 Megapixel digital consumer camera up to the eyepiece of the 24".
The next day, Ariel Boston (left) and her friend Rachel Ybarra go back to Lowell Observatory and visit Clyde Tombaugh's Pluto discovery telescope.
Tomb punks: the morning (well, afternoon) after. Rachel Ybarra (Ariel's friend), left and Ariel on the right, hanging out at Percival Lowell's tomb next to the Lowell Observatory 24" Clark refractor dome. Ariel, who generally hates pictures of herself, wants to get a matching picture like this of her in front of Jim Morrison's tomb in Paris (Ariel is a big Doors fan).