The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

freeballin · 07-17-2006, 09:50 PM

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 be easy to spot. At the
beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m.< /st1:time>
and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye

Stax · 07-18-2006, 12:27 AM

Not trying to be a wise guy, but the facts don't add up.

Check your dates, someones pulling your leg.
Mars as big as the moon they say?
Mars has a diameter of 4246 miles and our moon 2140 miles.
So for them to appear the same size Mars would be no further away than twice the distance that our moon is, 235,000 miles. Mars would have to be less than 500,000 miles away.

As quoted

PLANETARY SOCIETY DECLARES AUGUST 27TH MARS DAY

Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter in August. The red planet is already an appealing target for sky watchers.
Count slowly: one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand.... You just got about 30 km closer to the planet Mars.
Earth and Mars are rapidly converging. On August 27, 2003--the date of closest approach--the two worlds will be 56 million km apart. That's a long way by Earth standards, but only a short distance on the scale of the solar system. NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan are all sending spacecraft to Mars this year. It's a good time to go.
Between now and August, Mars will brighten until it "blazes forth against the dark background of space with a splendor that outshines Sirius and rivals the giant Jupiter himself." Astronomer Percival Lowell, who famously mapped the canals of Mars, wrote those words to describe the planet during a similar close encounter in the 19th century.
Already Mars is eye-catching. You can see it this month in the morning sky--bright, steady and remarkably red. Only Venus near the sun is brighter.
Amateur astronomers looking through backyard telescopes have reported in recent days great views of Mars's south polar cap. Made of frozen water and carbon dioxide ("dry ice"), it reflects sunlight well. "I can see the polar ice vividly using my 8-inch telescope," says Ron Wayman of Tampa, Florida. He's also spotted "some faint darker-shaded areas on the surface."
Such markings will become clearer in the weeks ahead. On June 1st Mars was 12.5 arcseconds across and it glowed like a -1st magnitude star. On August 27th it will be twice as wide (25 arcseconds) and six times brighter (magnitude -2.9).
Much has been made of the fact that the August 27th encounter with Mars is the closest in some 60,000 years. Neanderthals were the last to observe Mars so favorably placed. This is true. It's also a bit of hype. Mars and Earth have been almost this close many times in recent history.
Some examples: Aug. 23, 1924; Aug. 18, 1845; Aug. 13, 1766. In each case Mars and Earth were approximately 56 million km apart.
Astronomers call these close encounters "perihelic oppositions." Perihelic means Mars is near perihelion--its closest approach to the sun. (The orbit of Mars, like that of all planets, is an ellipse, so the distance between the sun and Mars varies.) Opposition means that the sun, Earth and Mars are in a straight line with Earth in the middle. Mars and the sun are on opposite sides of the sky. When Mars is at opposition and at perihelion--at the same time--it is very close to Earth.
August 27th is indeed the best perihelic opposition since the days of the Neanderthals, but it scarcely differs from other more recent ones. That's fine because all perihelic oppositions of Mars are spectacular.
Mars is a morning planet now. You have to wake up early to see it. Soon, though, it will be more conveniently placed. By mid-July Mars will rise in the east around 11 p.m. local time. In late August it will appear as soon as the sun sets. It won't be long before everyone can see Mars at a civilized hour.
We'll be telling more stories about Mars in the weeks ahead. This one, though, is finished. Did you make it to the end? Congratulations! You're now 2000 km closer to Mars.