Mars


The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that
will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in
recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is
in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on
Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be
certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth
in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as
60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when
Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and
will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in
the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9
and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest
75-power magnification


Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
Mars will be easy to spot. At the
beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m.
and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are
closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its
highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has
seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at
the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the
month.
Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

I would love to believe that Mars will be the same size as the full moon, but surely that is a little exaggeration in there?

Will look to the skies as I stagger from Pub to pub on saturday nights

This news is actually 3 years old, it happened in August 2003. I saw it myself and it looked like a red-tinted star, definetely not the size of the moon, that's a huge exaggeration.

Yes. I see March of this year was the last good look.
I am sleepy and was trying to just pop something in for what the topic starter liked.

You can do better than me to find them something nice on Mars I am hope.

Mars will not be at opposition again until 2007. Bella-Angelique, your last post is one year out of date (it actually says at the very top of the page you link to, The Opposition of Mars
7 November, 2005). In September, October and Novmber of this year Mars will be too close to the Sun (from our view point) for it to be observed.

As to the first post by 987654321 it is total nonsense (not 987654321's fault, this rumour was strong enough in 2003 that the Bad Astronomy site had to have a section on it). Mars can never appear as large as a full moon. In fact to the naked eye it never appears as anything more than a point of light (rather like a bright red star).

This seems like an annual event, stating that Mars will be with in 34 million miles of Earth, the closest ever, etc etc. Even George Noory mention this last summer and the show wasn't a rebroadcast.

I remember it in 2003, it wasn't any more spectacular than Venus or Jupiter at any given time it's visible; it's just the color of Mars was more pronounced.

I remeber Mars in 2003...I could clearly see the ice caps with my scope...