Never again in your lifetime or the lifetime of your children and
children's children will the Red Planet be so spectacular!
This month and next month the 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 have been as long as 60,000 years
(there is normally more than one possible solution to a 'three-body' orbital problem).
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to 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. 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 go out with your children - even if it is earlier in the evening and see
Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout this month. No
one alive today will ever see this again
By Renee'
