Never again in our
lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular. During the month
of July and August the earth was catching up with Mars, an
encounter that culminated in the closest approach between the
two planets in recorded history. This occurred August 27th when
Mars came to within 34,649,589 miles, and (second to the moon)
became the brightest object in the night sky. It attained a
magnitude of -2.9 and appeared .25.11 arc seconds wide. At a
modest .75-power magnification Mars looked as large as the
full moon.
At the beginning of August, Mars rose in the east at 10
p.m. and reached its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by the end of
the month when the two planets were closest, Mars rose at
nightfall and reached its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.
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.
The top photo is an actual satellite photo of Mars
showing clouds and a dust storm on the surface. I took the
lower photo around 12:30 a.m. August 27 using an Olympus (zoom)
digital camera.
This was fun. Hope
you enjoyed it.
...and us too!
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Hiya Earthlings!
