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Lori Gilbert Record Recordwriter @LoriGRecord
One can not compare with the total solar eclipse of August 20, 2017, but attacking Mars, as it was called a local astronomy lodger, is a good reason to look at the sky.
month, with Mars taking two years to Earth to turn around the sun before the three line up in a line with the Earth between the sun and the red planet. But this time, Mars is closer to the sun, which means that she is brighter in the sky and that she is as close to Earth as she has been since 2003, reaching about 35.8 million miles
. but it's right next door, "said Douglas Christensen of the Stockton Astronomical Society, which also refers to a pitch for baseball fans.
Tuesday is the day when Earth and Mars make their closest connection, especially at 12:50, but astronomy enthusiasts with telescopes do not expect this moment as enthusiasts have anticipated the total eclipse of the sun last summer. [19659003] This is because it happens two days after the full moon and the brightness of the moon will diminish telescopic view of Mars.
The planet is visible now. It rises to the east and moves Through the southern sky Wednesday, with the smoke of Ferguson's fire spilling into the San Joaquin Valley, the stars were hard to spot, but Christensen's prediction that Mars would be visible from 10 pm was on the spot. At 11 pm on Thursday, it was even more hollow nt.
It shone in the sky, not red, but a bright yellow.
Christensen, who followed his father into the family business, American Sign, became an astronomy enthusiast after taking Astronomy 101 At San Joaquin's Delta College, in 1985, he marveled at star gazing at 5,000 feet above sea level during moonless nights or through the lens of his telescope.
"Everyone throws the awesome word around," You're awesome, this app is great, "said Christensen." They destroy the word, belittling the word. Look for the definition. It means inspires fear. There are two things that do it: standing on the southern edge of the Grand Canyon at sunrise, and the night sky, watching the Milky Way on a clear moonless night in the Sierra. It strikes people differently, but it makes us insignificant, in a good way. The little shit you're dealing with, the stupid things are all gone. You make a cosmic connection of which Carl Sagan speaks. You understand that you are a point on the globe, which is a point in the solar system, the galaxy, the universe, and you feel really insignificant. It's impressive. "
Christensen's enthusiasm for astronomy came to him when he was in his twenties." Born in 1960, he saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon on July 20, 1969. He observed the development and flight of the Space Shuttle and Space Station, but it was a simple introductory course that opened his eyes.
I've never taken the # Astronomy We had to take physical science clbades at community college and I learned geology and plate tectonics and earthquakes.
The summer eclipse The latter has intensified my interest in space and, as Christensen pleasantly calls it, is exciting, it is not the only planet visible to the naked eye right now. Venus and Jupiter can be seen too.
When I was in fifth grade, we had an astronomy unit in science and I remember vaguely My friends read their reports on different planets, and Venus and Jupiter were surely covered. (As an aside, could there be worse way to teach science or encourage interest than having 10-year-old children who write reports, copying something from An encyclopedia, then read it to the clbad? But I mislead.)
Just as Christensen was right on how to locate Mars in the sky, he directed me to Venus – rising to west just after sunset, and Jupiter, along the sky between Venus and the moon. Saturn is there somewhere, too, but I have never seen it.
The Heavens-Above.com website provides a map of the heavens if you want to identify the stars and planets you see. There is also a free phone app called Skyview that you can download. I opted for binoculars, at Christensen's suggestion, and while I was hoping that Mars would appear red, it was yellow.
I will continue to search for a red Mars, and Christensen said that it will be visible in December. Christensen, who must be fabulous when sharing his telescope with visitors to Oak Grove Regional Park, compared the current alignment of planets to a race around a track [
]. 19659003] "We all run around the sun, we are in the third lane, Mars is in the fourth lane, Jupiter is the fifth lane and there is space between the fourth and fifth lanes, and Pluto ran to outside the stadium, "he snapped, referring to the planet that lost its planet status and was reclbadified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Now is the time to have tickets on the finish line. because the race through the night sky is a dazzling spectacle, maybe even really impressive.
Contact journalist Lori Gilbert at (209) 546-8284 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @lorigrecord.
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