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Look south or southeast at the sky after dark, and you'll see Mars, radiant rusty.
Looks like a little gem hanging 30 to 35 degrees above the horizon
"It's very bright," said Robert Ruotsalainen, professor of astronomy at the # 39, Eastern Washington University
. Much of the world has gone out on Friday under a "blood moon", the longest lunar eclipse of this century. The event was not visible in Spokane, but regional sky watchers can take some comfort in the striking clarity of Mars while it's hanging in the summer sky.
While the planet is pretty to look at, it's not an unusual event. Mars is getting closer to Earth about every two years, Ruotsalainen said. However, it is the closest to the planet since 2003. Unlike a lunar eclipse, this proximity is not a day event. According to NASA, Mars is orbiting 35.8 million miles from Earth with its closest and brightest five-day pass, with the last day, Tuesday, being
This is due to elliptical or egg-shaped orbits of the Earth and Mars, says NASA.
Mars is not alone.Other planets to the naked eye are visible in the evening , including Mercury, which hovers over the western horizon at the end of twilight Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars move from west to east
Venus and Jupiter, as well as Mars , are easy to spot because of their brightness
Mars is close to the constellation Sagittarius, which has a star formation, often called a teapot.
Astronomers measure brightness, or magnitude, on a scale that assigns negative numbers when objects become brighter.March was at a magnitude of minus 0.5 in May and is now at a magnitude of minus 2.7.
The next time Mars gets closer to Earth will be October 6, 2020, at a distance of 38.6 million miles. Ruotsalainen said that the event would look a lot like the current close pass.
In March 2003, Mars came closer to Earth.
He said that he thinks the public interest in Mars could be linked to the recent discovery of water beneath the planet. surface and discoveries of robotic explorers over the years.
NASA has said that an urban legend that Mars will be the apparent size of the moon is false.
Joe Bruce, NASA's Ambassador / Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Spokane, said "You do not need a large fancy telescope" to take advantage of the Mars luminosity.
Bruce's updates on astronomy and space exploration can be found on his Facebook page
The total eclipse lasted 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting more than four hours.
Throughout Africa, people have turned to the sky, watching the reddish shadow slide on the surface of the moon. In the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, hundreds of people rushed to the mosques for special prayers often observed during lunar eclipses while the clerics on the loudspeakers pressed them.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, people from an open-air restaurant admired a rare unobstructed view during the rainy season, comparing a live broadcast of NASA to what they've seen above. Then the clouds entered.
"Dem yelebesech chereka" whispered some – Amharic for "blood moon".
"The moon is blushing because atmospheric scattering is causing the red light to go through the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere can change if volcanic eruptions or forest fires occur", said Tom Kerss, an astronomer from the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.
"And the density of dust that increases in the atmosphere can make the moon appear a particularly deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and our sunrises . "
Associated Press contributed to this story. 19659027]
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