Never Again In Your Lifetime Will The Red Planet Be So Spectacular! (August, 2003)

E-Mail | Fanny Aragno & Richard Swanson

[webber]

Never Again In Your Lifetime Will The Red Planet Be So Spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars, 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.

On August 27th, Mars will come within 34,649,589 miles 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, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

But 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 12:30 a.m.

That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human 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 with your friends, children and grandchildren.

No one alive today will ever see this again!

---

[Calvin Locke]

A guy posted his webcam shot of Uranus on USENET - alt.binaries.pictures.astro yesterday. Interesting.

Pluto is about 3X the Mars-Neptune distance from Mars, too.

FWIW.

[TheOtherOne]

http://www.heavens-above.com

[scott7278]

Can't forget about Pluto (+13.8), can we? Poor Pluto.

[Calvin Locke]

Can't forget about Pluto

Depends on whether you consider it a "planet" per se, or a really big captured (and broken) "dead" (used? expired?) comet.

[Physicist]

Or a Kuiper Belt Object.

[New Horizon]

"A guy posted his webcam shot of Uranus..."

Geez...he promised he wouldn't do that.

[Constitution Day]

[RandallFlagg]

I can't believe nobody's posted this link yet! It's a great java program that shows positions of all of the sky's treasures in great detail.

Stig's Sky Calender

[js1138]

At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

This is a sloppy sentence.

Does anyone know the closest approach of Venus?

[Brett66]

I got out my 4.5" Newtonian and I was able to see a polar cap and the dark equatorial regions. This, despite living on the outskirts of the city with substantial light pollution and on a hot, humid night with a turbulent atmosphere. Very nice.

[biblewonk]

Mars is often called "the most disappointing planet" by amature astronomers.

[biblewonk]

Mars is often called "the most disappointing planet" by amature astronomers.

[Calvin Locke]

Don't you just hate Klingons?

[Calvin Locke]

And Dr. Sky

[RightWhale]

Oh, sure. Nobody will ever see Mars so close.

Somebody is going to see it a lot closer and within the lifetimes of many living today. They'll either land on Mars or one of the two moons Phobos or Deimos. Could be within 20 years, could have been 20 years ago. Just a matter of time and inclination.

[wolficatZ]

Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope.

View a more detailed caption.

[tubebender]

Is that one of those new "Stretch Camels"...

[Republic]

WOW!!! Thanks for posting this shot of Mars-----that is the best shot I have ever seen of this planet....I am going to be watching the night skys this month, for sure!

Big ol Mars bump!

[Gabz]

viking kitty time????????