Mars will get pretty darn close in August

[stuwee]

I'm having trouble looking this up, Dale just emailed me this info:
2003 closest approach
On August 27, 2003, at 9:51:13 UT, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60 000 years: 55 758 006 km (0.372719 AU). This occurred when Mars was one day from opposition and about three days from its perihelion, making Mars particularly easy to see from Earth. The last time it came so close is estimated to have been on September 12, 57 617 BC, the next time being in 2287. However, this record approach was only very slightly closer than other recent close approaches. For instance, the minimum distance on August 22, 1924 was 0.372846 AU, and the minimum distance on August 24, 2208 will be 0.372254 AU.[112]





Mars is getting closer to the Earth…….for the next 25,000 years.



:D



Dale Taylor

Transmitter Supervisor

KGUN TV/DT, KWBA TV/DT

KMXZ, KQTH, KGMG, KFFN

If anyone else can find something out, please post it, and Andy get your camera ready, I expect your finest work

[westgate]

there are those who are quite sure we'll never really get much further than the moon or MAYBE mars with our current propulsion technology.
and i dont disagree.

this saddens me.

[Acoustic]

I heard about Mars being close but there won't be any real noticeable difference to the nekked eye or even much in a telescope.

I feel man will get to Mars but in what form *dunno*. The cost would be... astronomical *ill*... and with what we do with the rovers, getting some Martian soil back will be the most significant accomplishment out of the feat. Though that could be able to do with robotics cheaper. Just getting humans there and back would be incredible.

Taken two hours ago:
http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss195/Acoustik/DSC_4389psSmall.jpg

[stuwee]

I heard about Mars being close but there won't be any real noticeable difference to the nekked eye or even much in a telescope.

I feel man will get to Mars but in what form *dunno*. The cost would be... astronomical *ill*... and with what we do with the rovers, getting some Martian soil back will be the most significant accomplishment out of the feat. Though that could be able to do with robotics cheaper. Just getting humans there and back would be incredible.

Taken two hours ago:
http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss195/Acoustik/DSC_4389psSmall.jpg

Thanks Andy I love your moonshots! Mars is fixin' to be the second brightest object in the night sky, and will be visible during the daylight brighter that Venus, I hope your lens can pick it up, since the UofA is the astromonical center for the world, I'm gonna do some asking around, they have a very active star gazing club as you might guess. Some nights half of the Mall area is telescopes :)

[Des-Lab]

Debunked. (http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars.asp)

In astronomy (which I fancied and studied a lot of when I was a teenager-I even had a telescope), "close" is a relative term. This e-mail which evidently circulates every year either implies or says outright that Mars will "appear to the naked eye as big as the moon".

Uhhh..no. Not even close. Most casual observers will/did notice very little-if any-difference in the apparent brightness.

Planet Venus outshines them all, followed by Jupiter. The former appears as a dazzling bright white light, always low in the sky (because it's closer to the sun than earth, but I'm not going to give a planetary lecture, so just take my word on it). If you have good eyesight or are viewing it in clear conditions (no smog, haze, etc), you may be able to see it as a tiny crescent with the naked eye. Looking at it through binoculars will certainly reveal that.
Venus has probably been the source of more erroneous UFO reports than anything else.

Jupiter appears as a silvery/white colored bright star, but not as bright as Venus. Again, if you have good eyes and clear conditions, a pair of binoculars and you might be able to make out some of the cloud pattern lines. Certainly a disc will be visible. Sometimes you might even be able to spot the 4 main moons as tiny pinpoints of light that change position from night to night.

Saturn appears as a dimmer beige/cream colored 'star'. Nothing really extradordinary. But the binoculars and sometimes you can just barely make out the rings.

As a rule, if you aren't sure if you are looking at a planet or a star, planets almost always appear to shine with a steady light with little or no apparent 'twinkle' that stars have.

Astronomy has always been fascinating to me.

And BTW. The North Star (Polaris) is NOT the brightest star in the sky. That honor goes to the sun. The brightest star in the NIGHTTIME sky is of course Sirius. There's no mistaking that one. How it appears to you depends on time of year, time of night, and your latitude. That star is a show in and of itself. To me, it appears in the southeast skies in the winter months and puts out a trippy light show, always appearing to flash between red/pink/white/blue. That of course is a trick of the atmosphere, but it's amazing to watch just the same.

[stuwee]

I guess I got caught up in the drama, I'm glad I didn't run into one of the Mars Lander Project designers and asked them anything about it, I'd have been standing under the blazing Sun for hours listening to them *rant* on what a duffus I am *headache*

[Web Police]

Thank God all this talk is about Mars being minutely closer and not Uranus. *devil*

[Acoustic]

Thanks Andy I love your moonshots! )
Thanks Craig! Here's one more:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/2047662325_9f834c2456.jpg
Debunked. (http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars.asp)

In astronomy (which I fancied and studied a lot of when I was a teenager-I even had a telescope), "close" is a relative term. This e-mail which evidently circulates every year either implies or says outright that Mars will "appear to the naked eye as big as the moon".

Uhhh..no. Not even close. Most casual observers will/did notice very little-if any-difference in the apparent brightness.
Thanks for the confirmation to my statement. Similar background here Matt. I lived close to my 5th grade teacher who had a telescope he'd bring out into the neighborhood. Gave me a lifetime interest. For me the best astronomical show in August will peak on the 12th... the Perseid meteor shower.
Thank God all this talk is about Mars being minutely closer and not Uranus. *devil*
Amen!! *lmao*