Star Points for February, 1997; by Curtis Roelle MARS APPROACHES Comet Hale-Bopp is the comet astronomers are pinning their hopes on for 1997. Astronomy publications are calling this the "year of the comet" and specialty travel agencies are booking romantic "comet cruises" to dark sky locations. The comet's 1997 passage through the inner solar system has been anticipated by astronomers world wide since its July 1995 discovery by two American amateur astronomers. In February the comet is a morning object visible low in the east-southeast an hour or two before sunrise. Try taking a look around 5 or 6 a.m. EST on the weekend of February 8-9 while the New Moon is out of the sky. The following week should be better yet because the comet will rise earlier and reach a higher elevation above the horizon before morning twilight begins to interfere. Use binoculars and sweep back and forth looking for a fuzzy blue-white glow with a possible tail. Toward the end of the month light from the waxing Moon begins to interfere. If you are not sure where to find Hale-Bopp, the Westminster Astronomical Society will be available to help. Next month this column will give the time and place for hooking up with the group and their telescopes for a weekend morning comet viewing experience. Mars is currently drawing closer to Earth and will be at opposition on March 17. There is nothing to worry about because even at its closest this year Mars is still roughly 62 million miles away! What happens is every 780 days the Earth catches up and passes Mars. Earth can do this because its orbit is on an "inside track" -- closer to the Sun than Mars. Therefore Earth revolves around the sun in a shorter period making one orbit every 365.25 days, whereas Mars takes 687 days to circle the Sun. At the upcoming opposition the angular (or apparent) size of Mars will only be 14 arc-seconds -- or the size of a dime viewed from a distance of about 850 feet. A telescope is a must for glimpsing any surface detail on Mars. Mars has several controversial surface markings that are too small to be seen even in powerful telescopes. In the 1970's the Viking orbiters photographed the most famous one: A formation roughly resembling a humanoid face. Unlike countless Earthly natural rock formations in which faces appear by chance the Mars "face" sports a frontal view rather than a simple profile perspective. As its fame spread advocates came forward both for and against the notion that the "face" had an artificial origin (i.e. construction by intelligent beings) in the tradition of South Dakota's Mt. Rushmore but on a grander scale: The Mars "face" is over one mile across. The conventional view of NASA is that the Martian landforms have been formed by "natural processes". However NASA does plan to obtain high resolution images of the area during future mapping missions. NASA's official statement is on the Web at . Covering the middle ground of the controversy are researchers and astronomers who are cautiously skeptical yet openly optimistic regarding possible artificial origin of specific landforms on Mars including the "face" and at least one object dubbed the "D&M Pyramid", a landform somewhat similar in appearance to the great pyramids of Egypt. One approach in their analysis is to enhance the Viking images to bring out previously overlooked detail. An interesting Web page of images, including some in 3-D, processed by Dr. Mark Carlotto can be found at . One of the pioneers of Mars landform image enhancement techniques is Vincent DiPietro whose results were published in the book "Unusual Mars Surface Features", 4th ed. (Mars Research, P.O. Box 284, Glenn Dale, MD 20769). DiPietro is a Carroll County Maryland resident who has discussed his results on several national television programs, including the "Unsolved Mysteries" series. According to DiPietro's hypothesis the "face" and "pyramids" on Mars are archeological ruins carved by an ancient and thriving Martian civilization that became extinct between 500 million and two billion years ago once Mars lost its liquid water and habitable atmosphere. The notion that Mars once had oceans is accepted even in main stream astronomy. DiPietro has also discovered in the Viking photo archives what appears to be a second Martian "face" whose size and features resemble the original "face" structure, except that it appears to be more worn or eroded. Meta Research, an independent astronomy research organization has investigated the "face" and "pyramids" mystery for any signs of "cultural significance" indicating the origin of the structures on Mars are artificial. The study revealed that the location of the "face" may have once been near the Martian equator before a shift in Mars' axis of rotation occurred. This and other conclusions favor artificial origin according to a published report in the March issue of the "Meta Research Bulletin" (Meta Research, P.O. Box 15186, Chevy Chase, MD 20825; phone 202-362-8279). If images returned from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft now enroute to Mars verify that the Martian landforms are artificial, the Meta Research report warns of a "cultural shock probably unrivaled by any other in our generation." The full text of the report complete with images is also available on the Web at . Bring your sweetheart to the Bear Branch Nature Center on St. Valentine's Day (14 February) to see "Celestial Love Stories". Admission is $1 for members and $2 for non-members and seats may be reserved by calling 410-848-2517.