Mars !

[athena]

Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular. Thismonth and next Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that willculminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recordedhistory. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to theway Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomerscan only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in thelast 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object inthe night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look aslarge as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, Mars will rise inthe east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by the endof August, when the two planets are closest, Mar!
 s will
 rise at nightfalland reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's prettyconvenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen inrecorded history. So mark your calendars for the beginning of August tosee Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.  Share this with your family and friends. No one alive today will ever seethis again.



athena...
wisdom's aspirant
child of earth
daughter of time

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