Spot Mars clearly from Earth, an opportunity every 15 years



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"Mars is approaching the Earth every two years, but, at this point, it will approach its orbit more than the other times and we will see it very bright and taller than ever before. "Habit," said Villanueva, an astronomer of Argentine descent. who works at the NASA Goddard Space Center

According to expert calculations, Mars will be about 57.6 million kilometers on Tuesday, July 31, compared with the 100 million kilometers it contains. Other dates of the calendar.

However, people will be able to see this "particular" midnight event today from any point in the world.

"For that, they should look at the moon and, on your right, you will find an orange-red dot brighter than normal-Mars and, on your side, another planet: Saturn," explained the planet.

This astronomical phenomenon, which will be restored in 2033, occurs due to certain "relati" circumstances. The Earth returns to the sun each year (terrestrial) and Mars both, so the two planets are aligned and are more close than usual.

However, the orbit of Mars is "very eccentric", that is, there are times when it is farthest from the Sun and others closer, compared to the variation of the Earth.

Thus, the orbit of the red planet of the solar system, and that of the Earth are aligned with the Sun synchronously every fifteen years.

NASA, this opportunity represents a great opportunity for researchers Hubble Space Telescope, which operates "peak performance" since its launch in 1990.

"Hubble allows us to observe the Solar System and on the outside for a long time; it's a very comprehensive information platform that helps us understand, for example, how climates are changing on different planets, "said Villanueva.

In the case of Mars, Hubble captured an image last week.The red planet is covered with a huge cloud of dust, which has led to a "global storm" in this world.

This knowledge is "very important" for the US space agency that owns a series of robots on the Martian surface.

NASA, in fact, has recently lost touch with the rovers explorer "Opportunity", which uses solar panels as a source of

Because of this Hubble-documented dust storm, "Opportunity" "He does not receive the necessary sunlight to work and has gone into hibernation until his panels are cleaned and the Martian atmosphere is clarified. "

One of the major goals of all of this research Without a doubt, it is the arrival of man on Mars, the planet that these weeks can be clearly seen by millions of people on 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 has reached Mars, the two planets are only not aligned, so you should wait two years before this window of opportunity opens again.

In addition to the 6 months back, the NASA scientist reminded that a launch pad should be built on Mars, a kind of Cape Canaveral on the Martian surface.

"We are working so that in a period of between 10 and 20 years, we can send the first man or the first woman to Mars," said Villanueva, who predicted that this person "is not yet at the university. "

This anonymous teenager, unknowingly, will look towards midnight, the planet that will try to conquer in the coming decades.

Source: EFE

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