Thoughts of a Sprite

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Info on Mars

I got this in an email, and thought it was pretty darned neat, so I thought I would share! If there are any other space nuts out there, I just love this kind of stuff!

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

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 look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the
beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.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 12:30a.m. That's pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has
seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at
the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter through out the
month.

Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

shes_a_sprite @ 1:29 PM.

3 comments

Oprayearth said...

That sounds cool-I'll be sure to look out for that sometime in August. Glad Your Back!

-op

2:48 PM

Rachel said...

Space is amazing, it puts it all into perspective and I still find myself in awe every time I think about it.

Thanks for the heads up. :)

1:36 AM

Anonymous said...

Just a word to the wise... I received an e-mail regarding this and checked Snopes.com. Snopes is a site that refutes urban legends on the net. Anyhow, this posting is not quite accurate, or at least it is outdated. Go read the entry at http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp
if you want details.

Gorgeous photo though!

MBT

5:03 PM