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Mars, the red poses, begins his show this month. This will be the fourth brightest object in the sky.
This condition will begin to be noticed from the next weekend and will persist until about September 7th. It will be 1.8 times brighter than the giant Jupiter.
It is that at the end of the month it will be in opposition. In other words, the Earth will be between this planet and the Sun. It will be at its closest point, more attractive for observation to the naked eye or with optical aid.
She will not be as close as in 2003, but almost. That year, it was at the closest point to Earth in the last 60,000 years (since 57517 BC). It was for a month the king, surpbading in brightness the other planets except Venus. Last was May 22, 2016. He was brilliant, but not like this time.
At the end of July it will look like a reddish dot.
It is that the planet is very changeable year after year. The past, for example, pbaded like a pale light in the sky, without attracting attention. Now it has gained in brightness and appears somewhat close to Saturn at this time, in the first hours after dark.
And although only two months ago it paled in front of Jupiter, it will be brighter the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon and Venus, a quality that will be d & # 39; 39, about two months (or the third at night).
This great proximity
Jupiter, the largest of the solar system, it shines a lot in the sky because of its large size: the Earth would enter 11 times, but it does not. is not the case of little Mars.
It has a diameter of 6,790 kilometers, just over half What makes it shiny is its proximity to the Earth during the orbits of both around the Sun. Sometimes they are on the same side, close to each other, other times they go far, as it was in 2018
As the red planet has an orbit further away from the Sun than on Earth, it It takes about two years to complete a ride. Thus, the opposition occurs every two years and 50 days
According to Debora Byrd's article in EarthSky, the opposition of this year is special, that's what it's all about. It is called perihélica opposition, that is, at its closest point to our star, which occurs every 15 to 17 years.
The Association of Planetary and Lunar Observers (Alpo) estimated that this opposition would be one of the most favorable of the last 15 years. In addition, since 1901 of the 56 objections that have been submitted, only 15 are considered favorable, as on this occasion. The distance between the two
In 2003 was 55.7 million kilometers. This time it will only be 2 million farther, at 57.6 million. The closest approach will be July 31, four days after the exact moment of opposition on the 27th at 00:07 on the evening of our time.
However, no matter how close you are, it will never be that a bright spot, that with optical aid acquires greater improvement. It is 75 times smaller than the moon. It will not appear as a second moon, this false message that every year makes its appearance on social networks.
With instruments of a certain capacity, you can see their polar layers and other details on the reddish surface. And this approach has in practice no implication that can feel the common people, only exerts a minimal gravitational attraction.
An opportunity to appreciate this planet, the most studied, to which more ships were sent.
Sources: Alpo, EarthSky, NASA, Space.com
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