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The sky of the Arab world will witness after sunset, next Wednesday at the beginning of the night, the appearance of Mars and the Pleiades star cluster, where they will be separated by 2.6 degrees, which is their closest conjunction since January 20, 1991..
It will be easy to see the planet Mars with the naked eye, despite its low light compared to the past four months, but it is necessary to use binoculars or photography to see the Pleiades star cluster near the red planet from the cities.
Mars is currently observed on the western horizon in the constellation Taurus near the red star Aldebaran, and it is easy to distinguish them despite the relative similarity in color and brightness.
According to the Jeddah Astronomical Society, one of the most important differences is also that Aldebaran shines on its own while Mars reflects sunlight, in addition to the fact that Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster are fixed points of light in the constellation Taurus, but Mars is only a temporary visitor.
At the beginning of March 2021 will notice that the star of Aldebaran is brighter than Mars to the naked eye, because Mars is decreasing every day, which means that it is weaker than Aldebaran by the time it passes 7 degrees north of ‘Aldebaran on March 20, 2021., and by April 24, 2021, Mars will be weaker when it leaves the constellation Taurus and enters the constellation of twins.
Mars is the fourth planet in terms of distance from the sun and it takes about two years of Earth years to make a full circle in front of the zodiac constellations, so Mars typically meets the Pleiades every two years, but exceptionally, The next coupling of Mars with the Pleiades will take place next year “instead of the following year” on August 20, 2022.
Wednesday’s conjunction will take place at the start of this year, and furthermore, no retrograde movement of Mars will occur between 2021 and 2022 and the conjunction of Mars and Pleiades, and after 2022, the conjunctions of Mars and Pleiades will occur every two years until March. 14, 2036.
It happens in rare cases that Mars has three conjunctions with the Pleiades in a period of approximately 4.7 months, and for this to happen, Mars must reach the meeting at a critical time, so that Mars can pass near the Pleiades. as it advances “east past the zodiac stars. Then back,” west past the zodiac stars “, then it comes back and moves” east “again, and this happened in 1991-1990 and will be repeated in 2038-2037.
To monitor the conjunction of Mars and the Pleiades cluster, binoculars will be ideal, through which Mars and the Pleiades will appear in the same field of view. In addition, the large size of the Pleiades is suitable for binoculars which reveal many faint stars associated with the star cluster and contain them all in one view.
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The pairing will also be great for astrophotography, as Mars and the Pleiades Cluster are bright enough to be photographed with smartphones and digital cameras. Thanks to a lens with a focal length of 200 mm with a digital camera with an “APS-C” sensor, the photography will be good.
It should be noted that the conjunction of Mars and the Pleiades this year will not be repeated again at the same apparent distance as on February 4, 2038.
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