Thousands fight for close encounter with Mars<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni and R. Berto Wedhatama, The Jakarta Post, Bandung\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The usually silent observatory in the Ismail Marzuki art center
\ncompound was packed with thousands of people on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Outside still more waited to get in. At around 11 p.m., a
\ncrowd smashed the glass panels of the building and entered, while
\nit was reported other enthusiasts had collapsed in their attempt
\nto see Mars at its closest proximity to the Earth, a natural
\nphenomenon which astronomers said previously happened some 60,000
\nyears ago and will repeat in another 205 years.<\/p>\n
In the Bosscha astronomical observatory in Lembang, near the
\nWest Java capital of Bandung, others gathered for a closer look
\nat the night sky,<\/p>\n
But these were just a small portion of the millions of
\nenthusiasts across the world hoping to gaze at Mars in its
\nclosest proximity to Earth, a natural phenomenon which
\nastronomers said previously happened some 60,000 years ago and
\nwill only be repeated in another 205 years.<\/p>\n
The long queue at the front gate of the Bosscha observatory
\nseemed disproportionate with the building's capacity to
\naccommodate 150 people only. The management of the scientific
\nsite divided the visitors in shifts between 7 p.m. to 1 a.m from
\nWednesday to Friday. Each visitor was charged Rp 10,000 (US$1.2).<\/p>\n
Many of the stargazers, who came from Bandung and other cities
\nin Java and Sumatra, decided to take a U-turn and said they would
\ncome back the next day.<\/p>\n
Bosscha observatory provided five telescopes of 15-centimeters
\nin diameter for the visitors, while the main telescopes -- Zeis
\nand Bamberg -- were used by scientists.<\/p>\n
Head of the observatory Moedji Raharto said the government had
\nallocated over Rp 100 million to help astronomers conduct a study
\nof Mars from the observatory. He said a video camera was attached
\nto each of the giant telescopes to record the phenomenon.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, visitors to the observatory were not charged to
\nwitness the special event. As a result, even people who had been
\nqueuing since 4 p.m. struggled to get inside.<\/p>\n
Only two giant telescopes, of one-meter in diameter, were
\navailable for the public on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The observatory will be opened to the public until midnight on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
The observatory management also provided TV screens,
\ndisplaying the phenomenon live for those who weren't able to
\naccess the telescopes.<\/p>\n
"I'm satisfied although I actually sweated trying to get
\ninside the observatory," a visitor, accompanied by her husband,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
At 0951 GMT (4:51 p.m. in Jakarta), Mars passed just 55.76
\nmillion km (34.65 million miles) from Earth, making it the
\nclosest such encounter since the Stone Age.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of stargazers queued up outside the Sydney
\nObservatory as dark fell, eager to look through some of about 10
\ntelescopes set up in the observatory's grounds.<\/p>\n
"This is only once in a lifetime that I can see another
\nplanet... it's really great," stargazer Rebecca Horton told
\nReuters Television.<\/p>\n
Sydney's harborside observatory was bathed in red light to
\ncelebrate the passing of the mysterious planet, clearly visible
\nto the naked eye as a bright, twinkling dot.<\/p>\n
"We wanted it a little bit bigger," a young schoolgirl named
\nVictoria told local radio after watching Mars with her family
\nfrom a Sydney beach.<\/p>\n
The U.S.-based Planetary Society has declared Aug. 27 "Mars
\nDay". Its website (http:\/\/planetary.org\/marswatch2003) details
\nglobal events from official viewings from observatories in Sydney
\nand Beijing to desert star parties in places like Jordan.<\/p>\n
Some of the best viewing will be in the southern hemisphere,
\nespecially from isolated tiny South Pacific islands like Tahiti,
\nthought to be the closest point on Earth to Mars, and outback
\nAustralia, where a lack of pollution from city lights means the
\nplanet will shine bright red in the night sky.<\/p>\n
Australia's Siding Springs Observatory, around 400 km (250
\nmiles) northwest of Sydney, beamed images of Mars from its 24-
\ninch telescope onto a large screen at the local Coonabarabran
\ncommunity hall.<\/p>",
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