OMG!! you HAVE to read this!!!!!!

captain-spanky

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CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH MARS

Never again in our lifetime will the Red
Planet look so spectacular!
This month and next Earth is catching up with
Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the
closest approach between the two planets in
recorded history. The next time Mars may come
this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars
and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be
certain that Mars has not come this close to
Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as
long as 60,000 years.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th
when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles
and will be (next to the moon) the brightest
object in the night sky. It will attain a
magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc
seconds wide. At a modest 75-power
magnification Mars will look as large as the
full moon to he naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of
August, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m.
and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by
the end of August when the two planets are
closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reac
its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.

That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing
something that no human has seen in
recorded history.


So, mark your calendar at the beginning of
August to see Mars grow progressively brighter
and brighter throughout the month. Share this!

No one alive today will ever see this again. :shock: :shock: 8)[/b]
 
hmm.. Even though I'll be at camp at the time... I'll drag along my camera! Can't afford to miss this. :wink:
 
I'm waiting for it to rise before i goto bed before i 'ave alook. its around at about 2am at the moment, were i live. When i do see it i'm taking some shots of it!

Hey tr0gd0o0r! what sort of scope have you got?
 
Magnified compared to what? A normal lens?

Btw, awesome stuff, OP!
 
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And the award for digging up the oldest thread goes to....
 
Mars _might_ be the closest it's been, not quite sure.... even if it is, it's like .001% closer than it was last year when we were both on the same side of the sun. 1 in a million astronomical events happen all the time in a large universe, and most of them aren't that significant. I would be impressed if anyone without an extremely powerful telescope could even measure a difference in the angular size of Mars between this "special" approach, and all the others.

Also, sweet old thread. :)
 
This **** is from '03 bros.
 

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