Mars’ close orbit to Earth
excites stargazers amateur and professional
The next two weeks present a prime opportunity for those interested in a close-up view of Earth’s celestial neighbor Mars, albeit nothing as fascinating as the cinema’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
NASA’s website reports the red planet will appear brightest between May 18 and June 3, with its closest approach on May 30 when it will be 46.8 million miles away. This will be the closest the planets have been in 11 years and back in August 2003 Earth was just 34.6 million miles away. The next time the orbits will make a similar approach will be July 31, 2018, when earth will be just 35.8 million miles away.
Viewers will be able to see Mars without a telescope or binoculars by looking up in the southeastern sky about 35 degrees above the horizon. Contrary to what some social media sites report, Mars will not look as large as the moon. For that, a person needs a telescope with 100 power magnifying capability, noted Russel Lavery, professor of astronomy and physical science at Imperial Valley College.
The Earth’s orbit is nearly circular but Mars has a more elliptical, egg-shaped orbit, which is why there are variations in the distance between the planets.
“We’re in opposition now,” said Lavery, “If you drew a line from the sun to Earth then Mars, they all line up. In this position Mars is in retrograde so Mars looks to move east to west in the sky and that’s because earth has caught up with Mars and as it passes gives the appearance of moving backwards.”
Lavery added sky watchers can see Mars, which gives off a reddish cast with the naked eye, but if a viewer looks a little further to the east they can see Saturn, an even brighter object because of the ice crystals of its rings that gives it a shiny appearance.
Even though their orbits are approaching closer there will be no discernible physical phenomenon on Earth as Mars is too small and far away, Lavery stressed. Even though the moon is about half its size it will always have much more effect on the Earth such as influencing the tides because the moon is so much closer.
Back in August 2003 when the planets were less than 35 million miles apart, it was the first time that has happened in 60,000 years. The next time they will approach that closely will be 2287. Whenever Mars and Earth are close to each other Mars appears very bright in Earth’s sky. The red planet comes close enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every 15 or 17 years, said NASA.
For additional information people can log on to http://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/mars-close-approach/