TAG | See planet Mars up close and personal |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Thursday, 20 December 2007 | |
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At its close approach on Tuesday evening, it was only 54,783,381 miles (88,165,305 kilometers) away. Mars will not be this close again until the year 2016. So, head outside in the evening or early in the morning any time during the month of December, and take a look at our red colored neighbor. It is the fourth closest planet to the Sun. (We’re the third closest.) Mars came even closer in 2003 when it was only about 34.6 million miles away from us. Mars will be the brightest object in the evening sky, other than the Moon, and will be easily visible from the middle of the evening until dawn. It will be slightly brighter than the star Sirius. Mars will look like a very bright orangy-red star to the naked eye. With a telescope it will reveal much of its larger features. NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) Spirit and Opportunity are roving around the surface of planet Mars. Their mission was supposed to last only three months, but they have far outlasted their intended operation, which began when they landed in 2004. Also orbiting Mars are three spacecraft: the Mars Odyssey, the Mars Express, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They’re all too small of us to see on Earth, but they are all in pretty good shape and returning important data to scientists here on the Earth.
Also orbiting Mars is its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. They are irregularly shaped moons. A star map showing the position of Mars is found at: http://spaceweather.com/images2007/18dec07/skymap_north_mars.gif?PHPSESSID=sjlh79a09c4mnnvso2ln00ts80.
Under normal circumstances, Venus and Jupiter will outshine Mars, but with the planet very close to Earth in its orbit about the Sun, Mars will outshine these other two planets for awhile longer.
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