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Submitted for your approval; Three good reasons to consider this as "The Summer of Mars":
- Mars is getting closer to Earth since 2003, becoming brighter and giving us our best views in 15 years.
- A planetary dust storm – – one of the most intense ever observed – is being studied by a record number of probes currently on and on Mars.
- One of them, the legendary 15th March Opportunity Rover, might or might not survive
Any of them would be remarkable, but taken together, they constitute a fascinating drama and multi-global worthy of the space age.
But let's start with Mars itself: you do not need a telescope or the Internet to enjoy it … just your eyes and your inquisitive mind. To see what I mean, get out of any clear night this week between midnight and dawn, and scan the sky to the south. If there are no buildings or trees on your way, Mars should come out like a sore thumb … and with a similar hue.
It's really an astonishing sight … not a ruby red of course, but an eye-catching orange point eye making its way from left to right across the southern sky. Do not miss this treat.
And Mars continues to look better all month, rising earlier and appearing brighter every night until July 31st. Even now, although not quite spectacular, it's an appearance. Surprisingly bright and richly colored … it highlights the features that have captured the imagination since ancient times.
March lights up because we are getting closer to him. Earth, the third planet of the sun – in its smaller and faster orbit – catches Mars, the fourth planet. On July 27, the two worlds will be lined up on the same side of the sun, so from Earth, we will see Mars shine in the opposite direction to the sun. As astronomers say, Mars will be "in opposition."
Then, four days later on July 31 at 3:50 EDT, Earth and Mars will be separated by only 35.8 million miles – their closest this time. At the next opposition in a little over two years, we will go a little further from the red planet – 38.6 million miles.
This summer, from July 7 to September 7, Mars is the fourth brightest object in the sky. only the sun, the moon and Venus – which radiate in the western twilight these evenings – overshadow it. Later this month, Mars will be almost twice as bright as Jupiter, which shines in the south-southwest in the early evening.
The oppositions of Mars come once every two years and 50 days, but the distances vary unequal orbits. Typically, we are not so close. The last time it was in August 2003, when Mars arrived at 34.6 million miles – its closest in nearly 60,000 years … and 1.2 million miles more than now.
During this March opposition, a new rover named Opportunity was launched on July 7, 2003 – 15 years ago this coming Saturday. He landed on January 25, 2004, two weeks after his double rover, Spirit. It's almost a generation ago – long enough for you and me. But for Opportunity, the small 6-wheel solar rover designed to last 90 days, is ridiculously long.
In the beginning, no one would have dared to guess that he would run a marathon on Mars (more than 28 miles to this day) and end on the picturesque wall of Endeavor Crater. No mechanic or electrician would be there if something went wrong … so much in the end. Anyone who suggests that it could last so long or travel so far, would be rejected like crazy.
But Oppy – as we sometimes call it affectionately – challenged the odds. She reliably sent updates and images documenting her epic journey … until June 12, that is when she missed a call to NASA.
This was not a complete surprise. The sky of Endeavor Crater has darkened since the dust storm – which was first detected by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA on May 30 – has spread in the region
]. Electricity, engineers believe that the robot has switched to low power mode. It is always expected that the occasion wakes up periodically and checks its batteries. If they recharge enough, they will call home.
Unfortunately, the storm has turned into a planetary dust event (PEDE), and no one can be sure of its duration. If the batteries of Opportunity become too weak, new, more serious problems could arise.
The double rover of Opportunity, Spirit, fell permanently silent in 2010, so Opportunity is only one of two rovers that still work. The other – curiosity – remains active after landing a half-planet in the crater of Gale six years ago – August 6, 2012.
The conditions did not deteriorate so quickly, and no matter anyway, since nuclear-powered Curiosity does not need sunlight to function. The dust itself should not be a problem.
So why such a dust storm, and why now? When Mars is closest to the Sun in its orbit, as is currently the case, some polar ice caps sublimate and increase atmospheric pressure. The winds generated by the contrasts in sunlight temperature also push fine dust particles, sometimes in clouds up to 40 miles.
Regional dust storms are common, and Opportunity has aged a lot since 2004. Yet, NASA's websites report that "a recent analysis of the long-term survival of the rover in the extreme cold of Mars suggests that Electronics and Opportunity batteries can stay warm enough to work. ""
The ground controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are waiting to hear Opportunity when the sky starts to clear, but it's not clear exactly how long it will take. robot every day
Opportunity was launched last time Mars shined brightly in our skies, if the rover were to succumb now while Mars shines again so brightly, it would recall Mark Twain's famous statement: "I came in with Halley's Comet … and I'm waiting to go out with it. "
I have not heard of anyone, whether from those who have worked on Opportunity or who have followed his incredible journey, who wish to see it end.His loss would mean the end of an era.After all these years, the pessimists have been eliminated, so whoever remains a disciple of the intrepid explorer is by nature an optimi ste ….
Betting against "the little rover that might" has not been a lasting hobby, so maybe I can be anxious to hear the wonderful news that it's a good thing. Oppy is awake, and is ready to go back to work … and soon.
Find sunrise and sunset times for the sun and the moon, and follow Patrick Waran wrote Skywatch for The Republican since 1987 and has been a contributor to Weather Almanac since the mid-1990s. A native of Long Island, Rowan graduated from Northampton High School, studied astronomy at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the 1970s and was a research assistant for the Five Radio Astronomy Observatory. Middle School. From 1981 to 1994, Rowan worked at the Seymour Planetarium at the Springfield Science Museum, most of the time as Planetarium Director. Rowan lives in the Florence section of Northampton with his wife Clara.
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