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Mars Swings Unusually Close to Earth
amazon10x writes "Mars will come unusually close to the Earth on Saturday; the second time in 60,000 years. The last occurrence was in 2003. 'This is the best we're going to see Mars, so we should strike the iron while it is hot,' said Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. The Red Planet will be 43.1 million miles from Earth at 11:25pm [Eastern time]." Update by J : Starting a few hours after sunset, look fairly high in the eastern sky.
Usually, when you use the word "unusual", it implies a sort of unexpectedness of the event. If there was an unusual swing of Mars towards Earth, I don't think it would be minor news.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
Well what time zone? 11:25pm here could be 6:25am somewhere else. Bad slashdot!
This time around it will be not so close to the horizon when it is visable, look to the west, it will be the brightest object in the sky.
There is truth in humor.
The Red Planet will be 43.1 millions miles from Earth at 11:25pm.
According to TFA, this is about 100 million miles closer than usual. They say it won't be this close again until around 2018.
Given advances in technology by that point, it should make a great time to put men on Mars.
In galactic scales, for an event to accure only once every 60,000 year, the word is not "unusual". The correct word in these situations is "normal" or even "quite often"!.
For those like me wondering the time zone, I actually RTFA:
On Saturday, Mars' orbit will bring it 43.1 million miles away from Earth, with its closest pass scheduled for 11:25 p.m. EDT.
main(){char *c;while(1){c=(char*)malloc(1);*c='a';fork();}
is so close, yet so far!
Jonathanjk.com
Second time in 60,000 years that we know of? If the last time it happened was in 2003, and this is only 2 years later, and the next time is "scheduled to be in 2018 (FTFA)", is it possible we just didn't have the technology to detect it back then?
second time in 60,000 years. The last occurrence was in 2003.
.... oops I don't know. But it happens more often ;)
So the event that happens once per 60,000 years - happens now a SECOND time, just after two years?
No (the summary is of course poorly written), in 2003 it was 35 million miles (56 000 000 km), and then it was an event once per 60,000 years. Now it is 43.1 million miles (69 000 000 km) and it is an event once per
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#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
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The information in the article in SI units:
> On Saturday, Mars' orbit will bring it 69.4 million kilometers away from Earth, with its closest pass scheduled for 3:25 p.m. UTC.
So it came unusually close in 2003... and now again in 2005... and they're expecting it again in 2018?
And so it's happening 3 times in 15 years... but we're going to blow that up to say "3 times in 60,000 years!!!"
Honestly... the New Orleans Saints win playoff games more rarely than this occurs. Which brings be back to my original comment: Seems like every few years we hear that Mars is WHOA! close to the earth. Other than it's significance to NASA's mars mission and palmists, all this means to john-everyman is that the red dot in the sky is a little brighter.
Mars feels it comes "unusually close to the Earth". Like in "Since a couple of years I feel irresistibly attracted to Earth." Or like suddenly Mars' orbit has changed.
Just bear in mind that 60k years is a fart in planetary history. This coming close to Earth could have -or has been- predicted hundreds of years ago.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
With all the natural disasters lately, I'm stocking up on food and water in case it hits.
...and they want their geocentric theory back...
From TFA: The two planets -- normally separated by about 140 million miles -- will not be this close again until 2018.
Normally separated by 140 million miles? On average, Earth orbits at 93m miles, Mars at 140m miles, both roughly on the same plane. That means the distance will vary periodically from around 230m miles to 47m miles. This current phenomenon is a "minimum minimum" which is why it is notable.
It sounds like CNN looked up the orbital distance from Mars and assumed that it orbits the Earth...
Ydco co
*Doesn't something like this happen every year these days?*
If by "every year" you mean "Every other year," and by "every other year" you mean "2003" then yes, it happens every year. Note, please, that every other year (give or take) Mars gets closer to us, then further, then closer, so there are times where it will be closer than others. This one (and the one in 2003) are just extra-close.
*So it came unusually close in 2003... and now again in 2005... and they're expecting it again in 2018?*
They're not "expecting" it so much as "knowing" it, but yes, Mars gets closest to us every couple years, and sometimes it's closer than others, so it will be in 2018 as well (I assume, I haven't actually researched 2018 in particular). It won't be as close as it is this year, or in 2003, which made these two so special.
*And so it's happening 3 times in 15 years... but we're going to blow that up to say "3 times in 60,000 years!!!"*
We're not blowing up anything. 60,000 years ago (or so) Mars was as close to the Earth as it will be this week. Between 60,000 years ago and now, it's only happened once, in 2003, and it will happen again in a couple days.
*Honestly... the New Orleans Saints win playoff games more rarely than this occurs.*
To put this in terms you'll understand, think of it this way. The NOS win a game, after losing, say, 5 in a row. The announcer says "This is their first win in 6 games." Are you going to complain and say "No it's not, it's their first win in ONE GAME!"?
*Other than it's significance to NASA's mars mission and palmists, all this means to john-everyman is that the red dot in the sky is a little brighter.*
Which is why we're having this discussion on a geek website. It's NEWS.
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We all went to school and we all know how this works. Let's just calm down and consider how rare or not rare this event is.
Earth orbits the sun in a nearly circular orbit at a mean distance of 1 astronomical unit (by definition of AU). Mars on the other hand orbits the sun in a less circular orbit that takes it as far as 1.67 and as close as 1.38 astronomical units from the sun. As we all know, it takes earth 1 year to orbit the sun (again, by definition of a year). It takes Mars 687 days (1.88 earth years).
Let's put this into more "human" terms using an analogy. Let's imagine a rock in the middle of a field. And let's put two people walking in circles around the rock. One person at a distance of 10 meters and the other at a distance that varies between 14 and 17 meters from the rock. Very quickly we'll notice that the closest the people can ever come from eachother is 4 meters and the furthest they can come is 27 meters. But we also notice that as they walk around, the person closer to the rock will take 1 minute to walk around the rock and the person on the outside will take 1.88 mintues so the one on the inside will be overtaking the one on the outside roughly every other minute (once per two years in Mars-Earth terms). And whenever they overtake, the distance will be anything from 4 to 7 meters. And quite often, it will be a distance of 4 to 5 meters or so. It's not rare at all. What's rare is that it would be VERY close to the minimum 4 meters.
So.. when we say it's "amazingly close" and "closer than in 60000 years", it's more like getting within 4.1 meters instead of 4.25 in the analogy above. We're not talking about 4 meters vs. 27 meters or anything like that.
Conclusion: this isn't THAT special at all. Mars isn't THAT much closer at all. For example for Mars missions and such, the difference in distance is mostly irrelevant.
Peppe
I don't know what speeds exactly rockets travel at, but at Mach 2 (earth relativistic since there's not air in space, but about 1200-1400MPH give or take depending on altitude)
Even a relative slow moving spacecraft travels far, far faster than the speed of sound. The average interstellar spacecraft generally cruises at somewhere around the neighborhood of 50,000 mph - roughly Mach 66. Some have been known to hit much higher speeds, but usually that's a result of a nearby planet's gravitational pull.
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the fastest recorded spacecraft were the NASA-German Helios probes, which hit 158,000 mph during their slingshot pass around the sun.
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Don't underestimate the Martians. They got one out of three spatial probes so far.
This is just so the demons can use those teleport pads to beam themselves to Earth. Here's hoping that by the time they arrive, we've figured out how to hold a flashlight AND a gun!
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
but what about getting them back?
Who says it has to be a return mission? Come on, don't you think there would be plenty of qualified volunteers for a one way mission? This is why I think China will be space pioneers (well, 2nd generation pioneers) - because they will be able to launch one way missions without too many naysayers complaining about it.
The attraction between earth and mars is then
6.67*10^-11*6*10^24*6.4*10^23/(54*10^9)^2 = 8,7*10^16 Newton
(metric units)
it seems a large number but if you see the mass of the earth 6*10^24 it means every kg recives a force of 1,5*10^-8 Newton.
My weight is about 80 kg it means the mars attracts me with 1,2*10^-6 N what is about 0,12 mg.
Just to get some idea of relations...
I.e., a good thing for some chill-out at our party tomorrow. :-)
Joachim
People don't write Manifestos any more -- what's going on in this world? [Frank Zappa]
Use as directed. Comment not valid in Canada or either of the two poles. Author not responsible for alien abductions due to stargazing.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I am so tired of this story. Every 22 months it comes back and I have to explain it to all the non-technical members of my extended family who ask me about it, expecting a freaking flash in the sky or a moon sized UFO or some crazy crap like that.
...
Think about this: all of these people are voters. Now extrapolate to environemental policies, energy issues, stem cell research
Freedom is on the march!
One simple rule for its versus it's
"It's a once in a lifetime event! Of course in astronomy we get five or six of those a year."
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The Chinese government does not want to go down in history as a government that sends people to their death in interplanetary travel; it's bad PR, it's bad for business, and it doesn't even fit in with the philosophy underlying Chinese governmental authority.
In any case, what would the motivation be? The only reason for manned travel to Mars in the near future is as a publicity stunt and to make people believe that the universe works like it does in Star Trek. That illusion is going to be destroyed if you plan on leaving people there to die.
Scientifically, rovers are a far better investment right now and for the coming decades. They can stay there for months with almost no resource requirements, and they really don't have to come back.