Mars at Opposition - Earth at Transitition

chuckpeters writes "An astronaut friend told us about how the nuts out there seem to think that Mars is going to collide with the earth or the moon, or the gravitational forces are going to rip the earth apart or cause massive earthquakes. While in a co-workers office listening to a co-worker take a call about the possibility of such calamities, our astronaut friend yelled "Quick, duck! It's Mars"! No longer welcome in that office, he's back worshiping launch complex 39A. The true gravity of the situation is much less benign. The fact is I have never seen Mars look so bright or red as the other night, it's definitely time to gaze at the red planet. NASA isn't going to be worrying about Mars colliding with Earth, but they will be keeping a close eye on Mars. During this close approach, NASA will be inviting the public to help decide what areas on the red planet to photograph." More information below about the unique position of the red planet - take advantage of this once-in-a-3x-lifetime event.

On August 27th, Mars will be closer to Earth than in all of recorded history. The event is a rare display of orbital events in the cosmic clockwork of space. It is the chance of a lifetime for everyone to go out and see Mars and never before, and never again in our lifetimes!

The event is much more than just an opposition though because Martian oppositions occur about every 25 months.

What makes this opposition so special? This year, the Mars opposition occurs at the same time that Mars is at perihelion, which means Mars, in its orbit, is closest to the Sun and near when Earth is at aphelion (farthest point from Sun.)

At 5:51 a.m. EDT on the night of August 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 km) of Earth. To compare this to an earlier opposition: in 2001 when Mars was last at opposition, the red planet was more than 41 million miles (67 million km) from Earth. The most recent perihelion and opposition took place in September 1988 when Mars passed within 36.5 million miles (58.7 million km) of Earth.

When will Mars be this close to Earth again? The next, closer approach will occur on August 28, 2287 when Mars will be 34.62 million miles (55.69 million km) away. But we won't be around for that one, so you don't want to miss this close approach!

When and Where to see Mars - Best viewing is about midnight in the southern sky. One good way to find more precise viewing of Mars as well as identifying the various features, is using Xephem. We put together some tables which include local sunset times and Mars rising times for August 27th for various locations in the US, Europe, Middle East etc...

Currently Mars is moving the opposite direction from all the other planets. While the other plenets appear to be moving towards the east over time, Mars is displaying retrograde motion and moving westward.

Because Mars is so small it's difficult to see details most of the time or in small telescopes. Since Mars is going to be so much closer than usual, even a 4 inch telescope will show details not normally visible. There are also various filters you can use to enhance observing. Mars through a Telescope: Getting the Most from the Red Planet covers what equipment to use and what specific features to look for on Mars.

Although one night has been advertised as "the night" when Mars will be closest, the red planet will appear large and bright for the next few months. Mars will also be changing seasons and that means you will be able to spot changes in surface features over time. It's summer in the southern hemisphere of Mars and the south polar cap is melting rather quickly. If you observe over a period of days you will be able to see the terrain underneath the ice appear.

Go out and enjoy this cosmic show, but you needn't worry about any unexpected cosmic collisions, Mars Will Not Kill You."

Comments

Martians!

[miknight]

Finally I will be able to peer into craters that house the martians. I hope they're as attactive as Amy of Futurama...

well,

[waitigetit]

I, for one, welcome our new Martian overlords.

or something...

Makes me smile.

[CGP314]

This special event takes place because of the specific positions of Mars and Earth in their orbits.

I love sentences like that. Mars will be the closest to Earth it's ever been, because Mars will be the closest to Earth it's ever been!

Linux on the desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a once 4000000000000000000000xlifetimes experiance.

Mars?

[Pig Hogger]

I hear they gonna deep-fry it in Scotland.

You mean it's not When Worlds Collide?

[putaro]

Crap, that means I have to junk the giant ski jump and space craft I've been building in the backyard. At least I had the satisfaction of putting together my list of who gets to go and who gets to stay behind.

Ha! They say no danger,

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

...but space has a terrible secret, my friend!!1!

Do you have stairs in your house?

aliens and earth

[abhisarda]

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

Re:aliens and earth

[osu-neko]

One assumes then they aren't capitalists, otherwise they'd be falling over themselves to open trade with a planet where there's a sucker born every minute. (That saying it old -- with today's population and birth rates, there's one born every 8 seconds.)

So from the lack of contact, we can deduce that the aliens are (a) intelligent and (b) commie bastards. :)

What were they thinking?

[JonTurner]

"NASA will be inviting the public to help decide what areas on the red planet to photograph."

Why? NASA asking the public for advice about planetary exploration is like, well, Nerds asking Slashdot for relationship advice.

Re:An astronaut friend

[Anonymous Coward]

No they won't.

id software employees . . .

[mr_luc]

. . . SIT DOWN.

Carmack is cool, but he ain't an astronaut . . . yet. :)

Earthquakes

[Anonymous Coward]

"An astronaut friend told us about how the nuts out there seem to think that Mars is going to collide with the earth or the moon, or the gravitational forces are going to rip the earth apart or cause massive earthquakes."

We had a 7.2 earthquake here in southern New Zealand four days ago -- I need no further proof that mars is trying to kill us all.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?story ID =3519390&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Mars at Opposition

[Aspasia13]

Why does Mars always have to keep opposing us? Can't we all just get along?

overheard...

[n0mad6]

...at a packing store mid last week man (at counter): Its really hot out there today. woman (customer): Yes, it really is! man: I heard that its because Mars is so close to Earth these days woman: oh, really? man: yeah, you know, because the sky...its really big... witness could bear to hear no more at this point.

Re:Collisions with Mars?

[valkraider]

What about poor Mars? What if something collided with Earth while it was this close to Mars? Couldn't it send fragments of Earth close to Mars? Has anyone considered that possibility?

Would "fragments of earth" that have been processed into spacecraft and landers and hurdled towards Mars be cause enough for alarm?

Re:You don't need a great telescope...

[jafuser]

[...] and the next version will control your telescope for you (if your telescope supports this, of course, unless your computer has SkyNet support).

D'oh! So that's how it starts! Robotic telescopes will someday evolve to take over and destroy us all!

Quick! Lets burn down the observatory so this never happens!