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Between July 27th and 30th, the orbits of Earth and Mars will be at the nearest point. The best time to observe the neighboring planet.
Mars can be seen with the naked eye at the end of July.
Mars can be observed with the greatest clarity in the last 15 years from this midnight, thanks to the fact that the orbits of the two planets have returned them to the nearest point of this period, a explained today Efe NASA scientist Gerónimo Villanueva.
"Mars is approaching the Earth every two years, but, right now, by its orbit it will approach much more than the other times and we will be able to see it very bright and taller than usually, "said Villanueva, an astronomer of Argentine descent who works at NASA's Goddard Space Center.
According to expert calculations, Mars will be about 57.6 million kilometers on Tuesday, July 31, compared to the 100 million kilometers that are on other dates in the calendar.
However, people will be able to see this "special" midnight event today from anywhere in the world. "To do this, they have to look at the moon and, to their right, they can find an orange-red dot brighter than the normal-Mars – and, by their side, another planet: Saturn," says the planet. This astronomical phenomenon, which will recur in 2033, is due to "relatively simple" circumstances, according to Villanueva. The Earth surrounds the Sun each year (Earth) and Mars both, so both planets are aligned and are closer than usual.
However, the orbit of Mars is "very eccentric", that is to say there are times when it is farthest from the Sun and others closer, in comparison of the variation of the Earth. Thus, the orbit of the red planet, one of the most irregular of the solar system, and that of the Earth align with the Sun synchronously every fifteen years.
From NASA, this opportunity represents a great opportunity for the Hubble Space Telescope researchers, who works "at its best" since its launch in 1990. "Hubble allows us to observe the solar system and outside of it for a long time, it is a very comprehensive information platform that helps us to understand For example, how climates are changing in different planets, "said Villanueva.
In the case of Mars, Hubble captured an image last week where we see that the red planet is covered with a huge cloud of dust, led to a "global storm" in this world.
This acquaintance is "very important" for the US space agency, which has a series of robots on the Martian surface to analyze this net NASA, in fact, has recently lost touch with the rover "Opportunity", which uses panels solar as a source of & # 39; energy.
Due to this dust storm documented by Hubble, "Opportunity" does not receive the necessary sunlight. work and went into hibernation until its panels were cleaned and the Martian atmosphere clarified.
One of the main goals of all this research, no doubt, is the arrival of man on Mars, the planet these weeks can be clearly observed by millions of people from the Earth.
This mission on Mars of "extremely complex logistics" would last 3 years, since, with the current technology, it takes 6 months to get there. Once the astronaut arrived on Mars, the two planets would not be aligned, so you should wait two years for this window of opportunity to open again.
In addition to the 6 months back, the NASA scientist reminded that it would be necessary to build a launch pad on Mars, a kind of Cape Canaveral on the Martian surface.
"We are working so that within 10 to 20 years, we can send the first man to Mars". Villanueva, who predicted that this person "has not yet reached the university."
This anonymous teenager, unknowingly, will look midnight to Mars, the planet he will attempt to conquer in the coming decades.
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