Mars getting closer??

[LANMAN]

Anyone confirm these facts?

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 throughout the month.


If this is true, this should be awesome!!

--LANMAN

 

[amdxborg]

Wow thanx LANMAN! Sounds awesome!!

 

[Spacehead]

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

That is definately wrong.




Mars & Earth are getting closer as we speak, but i think you got the wrong data LANMAN. 2003 was when we had our closest approach to Mars.
June 18, 2003




June 6, 2005

... October 31st at 0319 Universal Time, to be exact. Only 43 million miles (69 million km) will separate us from Mars, then, compared to an average distance of about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers).

Mars is still a fine show in July but it doesn't rise till after midnight in early July. Later in the year it will be better placed for earlier viewing.

 

[Assimilator1]

Damn ,pitty sounded good!

Lanman
Where did you get that?

 

[LANMAN]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Damn ,pitty sounded good!

Lanman
Where did you get that?

I better not devulge my resources... as they are related to me.

They shall feel my wrath for bad info. :|

Man, I was pumped too! Dang it!

Sorry everyone. False alarm. ( Lanman -- *Tells himself to check the hoax blogs next time.)

--LANMAN

 

[Smoke]

Some of our members really have head for Space.

 

[Wiz]

Still, it should look nice for us amateurs with small to medium telescopes.

I recently picked up a nice Meade 8" dob with a couple of 1.25 inch eyepieces.
It was in need of some TLC so I got it for a total of about $65.00
Hard to beat, as the lenses are worth about that much.
Last time I looked at the moon with it I quickly figured out why it came with a moon filter, that was the brightest I have ever seen the moon, so bright it hurt in fact.

I am hoping for clear weather on the night of July 3rd when the comet / probe collision is set to happen. It would be really cool to see that - if it works out right the comet will go from hardly visible (or not) with the naked eye to definitely visible when the probe hits it.
It would be cool to witness something we humans made colliding with a comet.

 

[Spacehead]

Don't give up on Mars just yet. According to S&T magazine there's still a good chance of small telescopes revealing surface features.



Yeah, that moon is super bright in a scope, especially the fuller it is.



Colliding with a comet should be pretty cool to. The Deep Impact probe is going to slam a 372 kilogram(820lb) "impactor" into the comet to break off pieces & create a crater. How much & how long the comet brightens will remain to be seen.

 

[Assimilator1]

Hey that'll be cool if we can see it by eye
I guess I could borrow my fathers binoculars to view it otherwise?