- Mars recently emerged into the morning sky and has begun
an orbital dance with Earth that will, over the next several months, lead
to the best viewing opportunity since Neanderthals looked skyward.
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- We're not kidding.
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- To get ready for this momentous skywatching event, now
would be a fine time to reacquaint yourself with the Red Planet. All during
the summer of 2002 Mars was pretty much out of view because of its close
proximity to the Sun. But during the latter part of September it began
to emerge back into view in the morning sky and is in full view, though
for now it appears rather small in the sky and low on the horizon.
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- However, this is only the beginning of what will turn
out to be the most dramatic and spectacular Mars apparition you or any
of your ancestors has ever had a chance to see.
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- The Red Planet is getting progressively closer to Earth
with each passing night, and consequently it will slowly appear to grow
larger and brighter. By late August 2003, when it will be about 191 million
miles closer, the reddish point of light in our night sky will appear more
than six times larger and shine some 85 times brighter than it appears
now.
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- At 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be within
34,646,488 miles (55,746,199 kilometers) of Earth. This will be the closest
that Mars has come to our planet in about 73,000 years, based on detailed
computations by Jean Meeus of Belgium.
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- Meeus is a world-renowned expert in the field of spherical
and mathematical astronomy. He has written many highly acclaimed books
dealing with a variety of astronomical calculations. His most recent book,
"More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels" (Willmann-Bell, Inc., 2002)
contains a chapter on Mars' Closest Approaches to Earth.
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- Here's what happens:
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- On Aug. 28, 2003, Mars will be at "opposition,"
the moment when the Sun, Earth and Mars will form a straight line; since
we are closer to the Sun than Mars, this is also when we are overtaking
Mars in our respective orbits.
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- Mars comes to opposition about every 26 months. But because
of the elliptical orbits of Earth and Mars, not all oppositions are created
equal. The 2003 opposition will be superior to all the others because Mars
will be very near to its closest point to the Sun, called perihelion, when
it arrives at opposition.
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- Such "perihelic oppositions" of Mars are in
themselves, rather infrequent, occurring about every 15 to 17 years. The
most recent one took place in September 1988, when Mars passed to within
36.5 million miles (58.7 million kilometers) of Earth.
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- Though Mars' opposition comes comes on Aug. 28, it will
be closest to Earth on Aug. 27.
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- At the close approach, the Red Planet will be brighter
than Jupiter and all the stars in the night sky, outshone only by Venus
and the Moon.
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- Copyright © 2002 SPACE.com.
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